


A Different Timeline

by mamepyon



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, How Do I Tag, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reader-Insert, Slow Burn, but it will probably change to explicit, rating is Mature for now, reader is female
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2020-10-27 05:03:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 30,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20754791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamepyon/pseuds/mamepyon
Summary: You find yourself fallen in the Underground where you make new friends and meet new foes. You aren't supposed to be here, and you prolong your stay, budding new feelings for a certain skeleton and simultaneously creating issues within this timeline you weren't supposed to be in.





	1. Fallen

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this is my first fic ive ever published. i posted it originally on quotev around 3 years ago and then i fell off the face of the earth! im back with a vengeance now, and actual plot direction?? hence why im uploading here, where i can reach more people!

There was no way you were going to miss an opportunity like this. Camera in hand, you tip-toed over fallen mossy branches, careful to watch your step but not completely take your eyes off of the glowing blue orb that had manifested itself only moments before. You heard your phone buzz in your bag strung across your body, reminding you that you shouldn't be out this late especially not out in the forests around Mt. Ebbot. You knew about the history involving the war against Humans and Monsters and how they were forced underground here, heck, everyone did. It was something you were taught at an early age, along with careful instructions to never wander the forests because of its magic and danger. But it was exactly that which always drew you into these woods.  
  
The blue orb was slowing down now, and had begun hovering over something. You took a few cautious steps forward and noticed suddenly the large opening in the earth. The orb was closest to the other side, and there was no visible way for you to cross quickly enough. It didn't seem like the orb was in a hurry to go any where and it begun to whisp around and make shapes in the air. You held up your camera and took a few shots from the distance you were currently at. Without fully thinking, your body moved in closer.   
  
Big mistake. You lost your footing and with nothing to grab onto you fell into the dark void. The fall felt infinite, and you were so scared that no sound could escape from your mouth. You squeezed your eyes shut and prayed that your imminent death would be quick and painless.You were starting to loose consciousness from the fear, but suddenly you felt very warm and light. A blue glow, similar to what was emanating from the orb earlier, was illuminating around you. Is this what dying feels like? You asked yourself.  
Then everything went dark.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everything hurt. You slowly began to regain consciousness , and with that, pain radiated from everywhere on your body. You couldn't believe you weren't dead. A fall like that should have been enough to kill anyone. You sat upright, feeling around with your eyes still closed, and caressed the softness underneath you that was cushioning your body. You felt silky smooth pieces with scratchy centers. Flowers? You thought, and opened your eyes to confirm your thoughts. It took a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the dim lighting, but you were indeed sitting upon a bed of golden flowers.

"Where am I..?" you whispered out loud to yourself. You looked up into the hole from which you fell, the only source of light illuminating this cave you had descended into. You felt a sudden weight on your shoulder, your brain starting to regain its momentum and reminding you of your bag that remained still strung across your body. However, the weight that was once around your neck was no longer there as it was before you fell down the hole. Your heart sunk as realization rose up from the pit of your stomach.  
  
You looked around the cave anxiously, and there next to you not more than 2 feet away was your camera. It was in pieces. You felt tears threatening the corners of your eyes as you began to crawl over towards it. You picked up the pieces and held them in your hands. You had this camera since you where only 7 years old, a gift from your mother. You were hurt, now in more ways than one. You solemnly popped out the memory card from the inside of the camera and tucked it into a pocket in your bag. While you where in there you pulled out your phone and pressed the home button. The screen lit up, and you gave a sigh of relief that it was still in one piece. There were two messages on your phone screen : 

"where r u?"  
"get ur ass home now!"  
  
Both of these texts were from your father, whom you had lovingly named "Asshat" in your phone contacts. He was mad now, but you wondered if he would care enough about you to get worried when you wouldn't be back by tonight. Would you even ever get back? You knew the stories of people wandering to close to the mountain, getting lost and never returning. You wondered perhaps, if they had all met the same fate as you.   
  
You forced yourself to stand up, despite the complaints from your aching body. You weren't going to find a way out of this place sitting in a flower bed. With your arms crossed around you, you let out a sigh and walked forward. You could feel the cool cave air caressing the skin on your legs where your tights had ripped from the fall. The sweater you had on though still seemed to be in one piece from what you could tell.   
  
You thought you could make out some kind of arch in the distance, and you picked up your pace.  
"Howdy! I'm Flowey the flower!" said a small voice from beneath you. You stopped dead in your tracks and gazed down at a small yellow flower, similar to the ones you fell upon moments ago.

"How peculiar! Ive never seen an adult human before." Flowey stated. "Golly you must be so confused! Maybe I can help!"

"No offense, " you started, feeling crazy for responding to a plant " but I'm not sure that I should be taking advice from a flower."

"Nonsense! I only want to be your friend!" Flowey exclaimed, but something seemed sinister in their voice. Seconds later round white objects began circling around you. The were edging closer and closer. "Try catching one!" Flowey said, and produced the most sinister laugh you had ever heard, with an equally as terrifying expression to accompany it.  
  
You knew that you did not want these things touching you , but there was no where for you to go. Suddenly, a white flame flashed by and singed the flower, cause him to flee in panic.

"What a terrible creature, harassing such a poor, innocent youth." a voice said, and you turned your head to see a very tall goat woman in purple robes. "But I suppose you aren't that young, are you?" The goat woman asked, a worried smile upon her furry face. " Oh forgive me human, where are my manners, my name is Toriel. She said, holding out her hand. You took it in yours , and began to feel a warm tingling sensation all over your body. The pain was lifting its self away, as if by magic. 

" My name is..." you paused, trying to recover from the almost euphoric sensation you had just felt, and finished telling her.

"Oh, what a lovely name!" Toriel exclaimed " Come now, my child, lets get you somewhere safe." She said, gesturing for you to follow her. Something about her aura let you feel as though you could trust her, so you followed her through the dark archway into the unknown.


	2. Not Your Pal

Toriel had brought you to her house deep inside of the ruins, as she had called it. She was so kind and welcoming of you into her home, giving you your own room and making it very clear that you would be the safest here. Deep down however, you knew that you could not stay here. You needed to find a way back out of the underground, and you hoped that Toriel would understand. She had been so hospitable towards you and you didn't want to hurt her feelings.  
  
You sat on the twin sized bed inside of the room that was "yours", finding it a bit odd that she already had these accommodations. You knew Toriel was sitting in the living room, but you were thinking of how to lightly break it to her that you could not stay. You decided to just wing it, and walked out of the room into the hallway. As you approached her, Toriel looked up at you and smiled sweetly. 

"Would you like to hear one of these interesting snail facts from this book I am reading?" She asked. You smiled solemnly and shook your head.

"Toriel, I need to know how to leave the ruins." you stated plainly. You didn't want to sugar coat it, but you felt bad being so direct. Toriel removed her glasses and set the book down she was reading. Her smile still on her face, but now there was a sadness behind it.  
"You're different from the other humans that have fallen down here." She sighed. "You're older, more mature. I know that I can't offer you that motherly sense of protection... and I know I cant keep you here."  
  
You looked down at your feet and frowned. Tears stinging in your eyes. You felt sick.

"Please...." you started to say " show me how to leave." Toriel stood up and motioned for you to follow her. She led you down the stairs you were previously not allowed to go down, and through a long corridor. At the end , Huge doors closed off what you realized was the exit from the ruins.

"I was going to destroy it. I was going to do it to keep you safe..." Toriel stated.

"Safe from what, exactly?" You asked. You couldn't imagine that anyone would be inclined to hurt you, but then you remembered the underground was full of monsters. Maybe a lot of them were not as friendly as Toriel was.

"Asgore... The King of Monsters. If he finds you, he will kill you." She said bitterly. "Please, human, be safe wont you?" She bent down and held open her arms. You leaned into her and wrapped your arms around her as much as you possibly could. Her warmth radiating from her filling you with determination. She placed her paws on your shoulders and held you out at her arms length. "Once you walk through these doors, you cannot come back."  
  
You nodded understandingly, and Toriel pushed open the magnificent doors allowing a bright light to momentarily blind you before stepping into the unknown.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It was cold. Very cold. Your first few steps out into this new environment had been greeted with the sound of crunching snow. You didn't know that it could snow underground. You didn't want to think about it too much though, and with one final glance over your shoulder at the entrance to the ruins you continued down the narrow path through the trees.   
  
You were starting to wonder just how long this path was, when you started to hear footsteps behind you. You turned quickly and looked but there was no one to be seen. Perhaps it was just and echo, you thought, picking up your pace slightly to make it to the small bridge you could now see in the distance . However when you made it there, something stopped you completely. You heard the footsteps again, this time getting louder as they were approaching you. You couldn't turn to look this time. It was only when whoever was following was directly behind you that the heavy restraints from your body lifted, but still you did not turn.

"Human" said a low voice from behind " don't you know how to greet a new pal? Turn around and shake my hand." You turned around slowly, and were greeted with the appearance of some sort of skeleton creature. A wide grin spread across his face in a way that almost seemed sinister but not quite so. He was only a few inches taller than you, but he made you feel much smaller than you already were. You did not want to shake this creatures hand, despite the fact that he had been holding his arm out the whole time you were analyzing him.

"No hand shake huh? That's ok, you do seem a bit shocked." The skeleton said, placing his hands into his coat pockets. You nodded in response, and clutched your arms around your body tightly trying to block yourself off from this skeleton imposing on you.  
"Hey, don't let me rattle your bones too much, I'm not gonna hurt ya." He chuckled "My names Sans by the way, Sans the skeleton." There was a short pause, as the Sans grin widened and he stared at you as if you were expected to have a response. "whats wrong, cat got your tongue? aren't you going to tell me your name?" He asked.  
  
You took a hitched breath, sucking in the cool air and told him your name.

"Huh, that's an interesting name." Sans responded. "You're a human aren't you? That's hilarious" he added. "Although most of the humans that fell down here were much younger than yourself." Kids had fallen down here before? Then you remembered. Oh god, all those missing children that all had the same re-occurring story of wandering into Mt. Ebbots forests. You dug your nails into your arms through your sweater. They didn't die from the fall, this skeleton probably killed them all.  
  
And you felt as if you were next.

"Listen kid, I'm not exactly sure you were supposed to fall down here." Sans stated. What was that supposed to mean? "And as a sentry, I'm supposed to kill you and bring your soul to Asgore but to be honest I'm not really feeling up to it right now." he shrugged nonchalantly, as if that wasn't a big deal to him. "my brother Papyrus on the other hand, he's a human hunting fanatic. So I'm thinking, I'll let you stay a little longer if you humor him." he winked at you. How were you supposed to respond to that? He wouldn't kill you if you played along with his brother? You scoffed out loud, and Sans grin widened in response.

"I'm assuming I don't really have a choice in this matter?" You asked.

"Nope." Sans said, winking again at you. "Follow me kid, I think that's my brother over there." He walked out in front of you and you followed behind. You thought about how long you would have until Sans would undoubtedly kill you.   
  
Sans stopped walking and you looked around to study your new location. In front of you close to the tree line was a small structure that resembled a small house. You wondered what it could possibly be, but your thoughts were cut short when another tall skeleton came running up to you and Sans.

"Sup, bro?" Sans asked the taller skeleton, whom you assumed was Papyrus.

"You know whats 'sup' brother! It's been eight days and you still haven't -!" The Papyrus started yelling, but stopped himself when he noticed you behind Sans. " Sans.... is that a.... human?" He asked.

"Yup." sans said, glancing behind at you.

"Oh my god!" Papyrus shouted, and he turned to run back in the direction he came. You stood there confused. Wasn't he supposed to want to capture you? Should you go after him? You looked behind you to see Sans still standing there, grinning. 

"Well, what are you waiting for?" he asked. "I would think it's best tibia going now..." . You raised your eyebrow at the terrible pun the skeleton made, and then turned around to continue forward. Although, after only several steps the same force you felt earlier that stopped you before the bridge had caused you again to freeze in your tracks.

"Hey, don't worry about my brother hurting you, alright? Ill keep and eye-socket out for ya." Sans said, and you felt the force on your body release. You shuddered, and continued forward.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The next half hour would see you solving puzzles set up specially by Papyrus who seemed to enjoy your enthusiasm about solving them, and you have to admit you might have been having a good time yourself. You also enjoyed seeing the real genuine brotherly-ness between the two skeletons. You weren't used to families getting along, considering your own dysfunctional one. You kind of felt like you were a part of theirs, despite the fact that Sans made it clear he didn't trust you. You figured it has something to do with the fact that "you weren't supposed to fall down here", and whatever that meant. of course you weren't supposed to fall down here, it was an accident.   
  
You had finally made it to the final puzzle, which wasn't really a puzzle but more of a bridge armed with traps. You remembered Sans had said Papyrus wouldn't hurt you, but if he had actually decided to set them off they would have surely killed you instantly. With that interesting experience behind you, you faced forward to the path that led into Snowdin to meet Papyrus for what you could only expect to be your last puzzle. You stepped past Sans, who had stayed behind after Papyrus ran off, and hoped that he wouldn't say anything menacing to you. 

"Hey kid," Sans started. well you're not sure what you expected. You turned to face him, but he wasn't looking at you while he was talking."You're about to face up against my brother soon....so I wanted to give you some advice about fighting him." He turned his head to finally look at you and you quite literally felt the chill from the frozen earth beneath you rise up into your soul. His eye sockets were pure black when usually there were small pin pricks of light glowing from them. "...don't." he finished. You wanted to run, but you were honestly too scared and you couldn't feel your legs, partially from the cold and partially from fear. You looked down at your feet and opened your mouth, trying to prepare a response but when you looked back up Sans was no longer there.


	3. New Housemate

Snowdin, you thought, was an incredibly cute town. Walking through it you received a very festive and Christmas like vibe, although later you learned that they didn't know anything of the holiday and were instead celebrating their own made up one. Getting caught up in all this festiveness made you forget about the threat Sans made towards you earlier, and It also made you forget that you were supposed to be looking for Papyrus.   
  
You looked too see where the sun was in the sky, forgetting that you were underground. You guessed you would just have to ask someone what the time was and began approaching a bear like monster leaning up against what you assumed was a restaurant. You asked them for the time and they responded, telling you it was 8 in the evening. What? How could it have gotten so late...? You shivered violently. Somehow it was getting colder, and you needed to find Papyrus fast before you turned into an icicle.   
  
You were absentmindedly walking forward when you suddenly heard a voice call out your name. You looked around, and there Papyrus was in the distance. 

"There you are human! I have been waiting here for you for quite a long time, I was beginning to wonder if you would ever show up!" Papyrus shouted. You walked up to them.

"I hope you are ready for this battle, human!" Papyrus said, putting his gloved fists out in front of him as if he was going to physically spar with you. 

"Papyrus I..." you started " I don't want to fight you. It's just so cold and..."

"You are looking for a place to stay, aren't you human?" Papyrus interrupted. Your brain said no knowing that you really couldn't stay here if Sans was really intent on killing you, but your freezing body said yes. You nodded your head slowly. "Well you are in luck! I happen to have a house that you could stay at for the night, until you are ready for out battle!" Stated Papyrus, and he took your hand to lead you to his home.   
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Walking inside of their house and feeling the warm air on you was almost like heaven. You took off your shoes and you could slowly feel yourself begin to thaw. Papyrus had walked up the stairs and told you to make yourself comfortable, so you sat down on the large, green couch against the wall in the living room. Papyrus came back downstairs and handed you a blanket, which you thanked him for and wrapped it around yourself. Cozy. 

"Sans should be home any moment now!" Papyrus said cheerfully. You, on the other hand were terrified about what he would say.

"He isn't going to like me being here." You mumble. 

"Nonsense, human!" Papyrus responded, and the front door blew open. 

"I'm back Papyrus." Sans said nonchalantly. You sank into the couch and tried to snuggle yourself deeper into the blanket, hoping that he wouldn't see you, but of course he could. He looked you directly in the eye, and then looked towards his brother. "What are they doing here?" He asked.

"The human was freezing, so I invited them in as any good friend would do!" Papyrus chided. Sans threw a glance at you, but you couldn't tell what he was thinking. He shrugged and said, "Whatever bro, just make sure they don't get into any trouble.". He then made his way upstairs into what you assume was his room. The awkward feeling that was in the room dissipated with his leaving and you turned to focus on Papyrus, whom you could see standing in the kitchen entrance.  
"Well now that the tension has left the room, how about I make you a delicious meal human?" Papyrus asked. You were hungry you suppose. You nodded at him.

"Sure, Papyrus. What did you have in mind?" You asked him, wondering what monsters ate. Hopefully not anything inedible...

"SPAGHETTI!" he exclaimed excitedly. "I rarely get to make it for anyone other than Sans!"  
  
You were surprised to say the least. You loved spaghetti, and it was a meal you were incredibly familiar with making. "Do you mind if i help? I'm actually pretty good at making spaghetti myself." you boasted. Maybe doing something you enjoyed would help take your mind off the entire situation you were in.

"Perhaps you can enlighten me with your human spaghetti making advice, but I assure you that my spaghetti does not need perfecting!" Papyrus said, looking very proud. Somehow you doubted this, but you hopped off the couch anyways and headed into the kitchen to help him make dinner.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
'Why is this happening?' Sans thought to himself, sitting on his un-made bed and his head in his hands. 'she's never fallen down here before, this is going to throw everything off...', he leaned back into his bed and stared at the ceiling. There was no way the timeline was going to proceed normally after this, Sans just knew it. She was going to interfere and when Frisk would eventually fall down, what would happen then? Would this timeline just collapse on itself? There were thousands of questions popping up into Sans' head, none of which he had a definite answer for.  
  
'It doesn't matter' he thought, as he turned on his side and sighed. He heard the sound of loud clanging and playful arguing from the kitchen beneath his room. He closed his eyes and smiled to himself. 'as long as Papyrus is having a good time...', his final thoughts before he began to doze off.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"SANS! THE SPAGHETTI DINNER IS FINALLY FINISHED, AND IF YOU WANT TO EAT IT BEFORE IT GETS COLD I SUGGEST YOU GET DOWN HERE AT THIS VERY MOMENT!" Papyrus yelled up the stairs in the direction of Sans' room. You were sat at the small round table in kitchen, waiting patiently for Papyrus to serve the meal. You had to constantly persuade him to cook the spaghetti your way after learning his bizarre methods. While you were waiting, you felt nervousness creep up on you once you realized you would be sharing this meal with Sans. You truly wanted him to warm up to you if you were going to stay here for a while, and you hoped that he wouldn't give you the cold shoulder.

"He should be down here any moment now!" Papyrus said , and not even a second later Sans was in the kitchen doorway. You hadn't even heard him climb down the stairs.

"Sorry for taking so long bro, but I was busy thinking up some new puns for our new housemate." He said whilst winking at you, and seated himself in the chair next to yours. You raised an eyebrow at him. What was with this change of heart?

"Please Sans, I'm sure our new friend does not want to hear any of your terrible puns! Papyrus said as he brought out the pot filled with sauce and noodles. 

"Com'on Pap, don't be telling fibulas. I'm sure the human is just dying to get to hear some of my humerus puns." Sans said, looking at you for your response. You bit your lip trying not to laugh. God, why did you have to think puns were actually funny?

"I'm gonna have tibia honest with you Sans, you're gonna have to try a lot harder than that if you want to make me laugh." You say nonchalantly as you scoop some spaghetti onto your plate. A perfect delivery of a pun, if you say so yourself. Sans grin widens, and Papyrus looked slightly annoyed.

"I'm spaghettin the feeling your gonna be a tough nut to crack." Sans said in response, and helped himself to a serving of the pasta as well. Papyrus groaned audibly.

"Well I hate to brag but I gnocchi a thing or two about puns." You say, and you take a bite of your food. Not your best pun, you admitted to yourself.

"That pun was a disauceter, kid." Sans said twirling his fork in his spaghetti, his grin growing ever wider. You finally gave in and chuckled, and you noticed Sans looked pleased with himself. "This pasta's really great bro." Sans said to Papyrus. You noticed the serving on his plate had gotten smaller, but you hadn't noticed him actually eating anything. How strange.

"Thank you Sans, but this meal's credit must go towards the human! She used tricks I have never once seen before to prepare this meal!" Papyrus said as he gave you a thumbs up. You blushed.

"You're patelling me the truth, bro?" Sans asked Papyrus. 

"SANS!" Papyrus groaned, while you burst into a fit of laughter with Sans. Maybe he was finally warming up to you.


	4. "The Talk"

The rest of last night was cut pretty short due to the fact it was already pretty late when everyone had finally finished dinner. Papyrus was beginning to nod off, so Sans went upstairs with him to take him to bed. You were pretty tired yourself, but you really didn't want to fall asleep in your dirty, still slightly damp, clothes. And a bath would be nice too, so when Sans came out of Papyrus' room, you asked him if there were any clothes you could borrow.

"Yea, sure kid hang on a sec." Sans said, and he went into his room for a few moments before returning with a plain grey t-shirt and a pair of black shorts similar to what he had on. You thanked him, and asked him where you might be able to wash the clothes you had on. You learned that the washer and dryer were in the bathroom, which was exactly where you wanted to be.

"I'll probably be in there a while then, a long bath sounds nice." You say to Sans. He nods in response, and walks towards his room.

"See ya in the morning, kid." He says, and the door shuts behind him. Back downstairs, you pick up your bag that you had set down by the couch. You took out the broken camera and set it on the small table next to the couch before slinging the bag over your arm. No need to cause any more damage to it, you thought.  
  
Once you were in the bathroom you set down your bag on top of the dryer, and turned on the bath water. You began to take off your clothes, blushing slightly at the fact you were doing this in a house of strangers. You threw the clothes in the wash and measured out what you hoped would be the right amount of detergent. You hoped that the clothes would finish washing by the time you got out of the bath so that they would be dry in the morning.   
  
You climbed into the warm bath and sat down, wrapping your arms around your legs comfortably. You lied your head down on your knees, inhaling and exhaling slowly to try and relax. You noticed in the corner that there was a bottle of shampoo. 'Skeletons don't need shampoo', you thought as you reached for the bottle, 'they don't even have any hair'. You began squeezing a small amount onto your hand, '...or do they?'. You paused, and then laughed at yourself for thinking such nonsense.   
  
You waited for the washing machines buzzer to go off before you got out of the bath. You wrapped a towel around you, and felt very warm and clean. This only added to your already tired demeanor. You dug into your bag to find the extra pair of underwear you tote around in case you, uh, needed it. Unfortunately you did not carry around an extra bra, and you prayed that the shirt you were borrowing was loose on you so that nothing would poke through. Thankfully it was, and after you got dressed you threw your clean clothes into the dryer.   
  
Back downstairs, you curled yourself up on the couch with the blanket Papyrus gave you earlier. This couch, you thought, was much bigger than any you have slept on before. You were thankful for that, as you had slept on many uncomfortable couches before. You thought about what would be in store for tomorrow. Maybe you wouldn't even wake up, due to a merciful death in your sleep. Or maybe you would wake up, but back in your own bed in your own house, to find that all of this was a dream.   
  
You finally fell asleep, and your mind was plagued with perplexing dreams where you would see the same inky figure try to talk to you with his hands.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
You awoke to the sound of objects being dumped onto the kitchen table. You groaned, and instinctively reached for your bag to pull out your phone, but it wasn't there. Your eyes shot open and you jumped up from the couch to run into the kitchen. There you saw your empty bag on a chair, and all of the stuff in it spread out on the table. 

"What the hell are you doing!" You shouted as you stormed up to the table to try and collect your things, but Sans held out his arm and stopped you.

"Human, you are finally awake! As for why your stuff is out of your bag, well, Sans had the most brilliant idea of checking your stuff to be sure that you would not be a threat to us while you stayed here!" Papyrus said, sounding very proud of his brothers idea. You glared at Sans, you was still holding you back, and his smile widened.

"And no, kid, you don't have a choice in the matter." Sans said. "Take a seat kid, take a load off your bones." He pulled out the chair next to you. You sat down hesitantly, still glaring as Papyrus and Sans began to go through your things. You froze when you noticed Sans reaching for the pack of cigarettes.

"You smoke, kid?" He asked, his expression showed curiosity and disappointment. 

"No!" You exclaimed quickly. "They aren't mine, they're my dads. Before I fell down here, I was supposed to bring them to him." You explained. Sans set the box down, looking content with your answer.

"Who is this 'Asshat' person, and why are they so angry!?" Papyrus asked, looking at your phone screen. You giggled.

"That would be my dad." You say.

"Any particular reason why you've named him Asshat?" Sans asked you. You pretended to think for an answer despite the fact you didn't need to.

"Yeah, it's because he's a literal ass hat." You state plainly. Honestly you didn't want to explain your life's story to these two skeletons, not yet at least. You crossed your arms on the table, lied you head down on them, and glanced at Sans too see if he would read the hint that you didn't want to talk about your dad. You saw him pick up your 'period pouch' as you humorously called it, and your heart dropped into your stomach. 

"Don't open that!" You yelled as you tried to reach over the table, but it was too late. The contents of the pouch spilled out onto the table. A pad, a tampon, and some midol. You know, just girly things. You felt your face flush bright red. You did NOT need to be explaining the human reproductive processes to two skeletons.

"Heh, whats all this stuff kid?" Sans asked, smirking evilly at you. Something told you that he already knew, and was only asking to embarrass you more.  
"Is this your secret arsenal?!" Papyrus asked innocently. Oh my god. You were so embarrassed you could die, and you tried to hide your face in your hands.   
"N-no, Papyrus. They aren't weapons, they're for uh..." Shit, how were you supposed to explain this so he could understand? Papyrus looked at you patiently, and Sans grin widened farther than you've ever seen. You could tell he was enjoying this.

"Well, uh, you see... sometimes, as a human that is, I...." you paused and gulped audibly. "Bleed..." you finished. Oh my god that's not how you wanted to say that. 

"WHAT?!" Papyrus yelled. Sans laughed a real genuine laugh as you struggled to calm Papyrus down and explain to him what the human reproductive system was.  
After a few minutes he seemed calmer and deep in thought.

"So you are telling me that humans reproduce using these methods?!" Papyrus asked. You exhale and nod, looking over at Sans, who was leaning on his head on his hand and looking oddly content with himself. "That is so peculiar! I have to tell all of this to Undyne!" He stated, and ran out the door to wherever this Undyne person was.  
  
So now it was just you and Sans, alone at the table. He looked like he could fall asleep at any moment, but instead he opened his eyes, which were half shut previously, and looked at you.

"So kid, you hungry?" Sans asked you. You hadn't realized earlier, but you really were hungry.

"I guess I am." You reply.

"Follow me kid, lets go to Grillbz and get some food that isn't left over spaghetti." He stood up out of his chair and walked to the entrance of the kitchen. "What, you need me to carry you or somethin''?" he asked playfully. You blushed, but got up and followed him outside and towards the restaurant.


	5. SANS DATE

So this is the restaurant you walked past yesterday and didn't even give a second glance. You could see from the window, inside looked warm and cheerful. Monsters were seated in booths, scattered tables, and at the bar in the back where a monster made of flame was serving drinks. You looked over and noticed that Sans had been holding the door open for you. He gestured inside.

"Nervous?" he asked as you approached the opened door.

"Not at all." you answered truthfully, as you walked inside and followed Sans to a booth. 'Why would I be?' you asked yourself as you sat down. You were just going to get some food with him and probably talk about things with him, and afterwards he would pay for the meal and- ... wait was this a date? 'There's no way Sans thinks this is a date, I'm just over reacting.'.  
You were panicking a bit, and Sans noticed you were staring wide eyed at the table.

"Woah kid, why are you lookin' like you've just seen a ghost?" sans asked, and you snapped up from your panicked daze to see that he had been staring at you the whole time. He looked concerned.

"S-sorry..." you say, "I was just thinking about something.".

"Somthin' you wanna share?" He asked.

"No!" You shouted a little louder than you had meant to, and sans chuckled at you. After that embarrassing fiasco, you finally picked up the small menu on the table to see what you could get to eat. You decided to just get french fries, because you didn't want to be eating too much now that you really were starting to feel nervous about this whole date thing. 'It's not a date!' you argued with yourself. You started to sink lower into your chair.  
  
A few minutes later a drink for you and a bottle of ketchup were brought out for the both of you. You didn't question the skeletons desire to drink ketchup from the bottle even though you found it quite strange. You thoughtlessly began stirring your drink with the straw. You were trying to think you something to say that would calm this awkward atmosphere that you seemed to have created for yourself. Sans looked like he was enjoying watching you suffer.

"So... what's with this change of heart so quickly?" You ask, sitting up straight in your chair. "I mean the first time you saw me you looked like you wanted to kill me on the spot, and now your taking me out to eat."

"Who said I still didn't want to kill you?" he chuckled. Your eyes widened in surprise, not expecting him to say something like that. "I mean technically there's no reason for you to be here, you're only interfering with everything." he leaned his head on hand. "However, I had a dream last night, and someone in it told me you might be important. So I guess I've decided you can stick around for a while." he winked at you. "We can start over, if you'd like, and maybe we can try to be pals."

"We weren't pals before this moment?" you asked, trying to make sense of all the nonsense he was spouting.

"You never shook my hand, remember?" he said as he held his hand out over the table for you to shake. You had never shaken a skeletons hand before this moment, but you weren't expecting it to feel the way it did. Sans had a very strong grip despite the fact he didn't really look all that strong to you, and the temperature of his bones was similar to that of an icy hot feeling. you looked over to your left and noticed the food you both ordered being brought to the table.

"So, " he started to ask, releasing his grip on your hand "Anythin' you wanna talk about?" 

"What do you mean?" You asked, reaching for one of the fries that had just been brought to you.

"What I mean is, I guess I'm curious as to how you fell down here." He stated. You looked up and to the side to try and think of where to begin, and you told him your story starting from the walk home from the drug store you were at. You noticed Sans tense up when you mentioned the blue light you were following in the forest, but he covered it up well. After you had finished your story, and your basket of fries as well, you waited for some kind of response from him. He had been unusually unresponsive the entire time.

"Sans, are you alright?" You asked him.

"Yea, I'm fine kid. Why wouldn't I be?" He responded. You tilted you head and blinked slowly at him, you didn't believe that he was ok.

"Don't worry about me, nothing gets under my skin.", he smirked, and you held back a laugh.

"Of course not, you don't have any" You plainly responded. "You do have a thick skull though.". You sipped your drink, looking quite proud of yourself for that pun.

"Ouch kid, throw me a bone will ya?" he laughed, and you spent the rest of the 'date' telling bad puns at each other. You honestly felt as though you could've spent all day there just telling jokes with Sans, but as it was growing closer to the evening he decided it would be best to head home back home before Papyrus would start to worry. You wondered if he would even be back since he said he had left to meet up with someone.   
  
You and Sans were still laughing and telling bad puns when he opened the door to his house, and the walk there had been equally as hilarious. Occasionally you and Sans' hand would brush against each other causing you to blush a little, but you didn't think Sans even noticed. Today had been probably one of the best days of your life ever since your mother passed away years ago, and you couldn't believe if was because of this punny skeleton. However, your laughter was cut short when Sans finally opened the front door to his house. Inside you were met with not only Papyrus, but also a very tall fish woman in heavy looking armor. She was staring directly at you not once blinking. She looked shocked and also as if she wanted to kill you on the spot.

"N-now now! No need to get all worked up, Undyne!" Papyrus said, placing his hand on the fish woman's shoulder. She shrugged it off and kept her eyes on yours. You wanted to run, but you were frozen in fear.

"What the hell, Papyrus?" Sans said, and you saw briefly a blue light flicker in his eye. His expression a mixture of concern and fear.

"I am sorry brother! I did not mean to say anything about the human, but I have such a loose lip! Papyrus said, panicking. "And I do not even have lips!". Undyne was moving closer, and in her hand she was manifesting a blue spear. You finally gathered the courage to run.  
  
You ran as fast as you could. You didn't care where you would end up, you only wanted to get away from the sound of feet stomping behind you and clanking metal. You could hear Sans call out your name in the distance as you ran farther and farther away from the Skeleton Brother's home and closer to the mouth of a cave where you hoped you would be able to hide from Undyne.


	6. Friend or Foe?

You had just barely made it into the mouth of the cave in front of you when the spear that Undyne created out of thin air flew past you violently. You looked back behind you to see Undyne no less than twenty feet from you. Another spear flew past, but this time is grazed you slightly in your shoulder causing a strange tugging sensation in your chest. As you kept running forward the tugging at your chest grew. It was as if someone was trying to pull out something from inside, and slowly something did begin to emerge. It was your heart, or maybe not really. It didn't look like how a real human heart should look but rather one of the stereotypical drawings of one that anyone would be familiar with. It was a deep wine red color, and it appeared to glow a bit. You tried to push it back inside of you, but it would just float back out. You felt incredibly vulnerable with this thing outside of your body.  
  
You needed to stop running, your body was protesting and any step farther was torture. You bent over, your hands on your knees trying to catch your breath. You heard the clanking of Undynes metal boots close behind you. You peered over your shoulder and saw that she was preparing another attack. She threw her spear and you ducked and rolled out of its path, trying your best to protect the floating heart outside of your body. You turned over to face Undyne. There was no way out of this, but at least you would die surrounded by this beautiful, glowing cyan water.

"Have you finally decided to stop running from me kid?!" Undyne asked menacingly, producing another magic spear in her hands. She looked down at your floating heart. "Man, your souls a weird color." She stated bluntly. You looked down at what you now knew as your soul, and for what you guessed would be the last time. You looked back up at Undyne, trying to hide your fear. She sneered at your attempt to look brave, and held up her arm to throw her spear.  
  
Something was holding her back though, as you noticed her struggling to actually move her arm forward to toss. She growled frustratingly, pure unbridled rage fuming in her eye. Then suddenly she was tossed into the wall to your right by seemingly nothing.  
"Undyne, I am begging you to stop attacking my friend!" You could hear Papyrus say, as he finally came into view. 

"Your friend?!" Undyne scoffed. "Papyrus you cannot be serious!" She yelled angrily at Papyrus. 

"I am being very serious, Undyne...!" Papyrus said quietly, sounding slightly disappointed in himself. You saw Sans finally arrive behind Papyrus, his hands in his pockets and the blue flame in his eye that you saw earlier flickering in his socket like a flame.

"Sans do you hear what your brother is saying?!" Undyne asked him, frustrated that she still couldn't move as she was being held by force against the wall she was thrown at. Sans looked at you briefly, worry on his face, and then back at Undyne.

"I hear what he's sayin', Undyne, but do you?" He asked her.

"He said that this pathetic human was his friend!" She growled, her loud voice echoing off the walls.

"Maybe she is." Sans shrugged.

"That's against the rules, Sans!" She yelled, banging her free hand against the wall.

"Have you ever known me to follow rules, Undyne?"

"Papyrus follows the rules though, don't you Papyrus?!" She asked Papyrus.

"Perhaps if the rules say that I have to hurt my friends, then maybe I do not want to follow them." Papyrus answered honestly and without hesitating. He truthfully considered you his friend, and if you weren't in this situation you were in right now you would hug him. You notice Undine’s arm, the one that was forced against the wall disallowing her to move, fall heavily towards her side.

"Papyrus, you are such a WIMP." Undyne said to him, frustratingly throwing her hands to her head. "I guess I won’t hurt your little friend here." She jabbed a finger in your direction. "But if I run into her again, I won't hold back!" And with that, she stormed off into the darkness you came from, her metal boots clanking in the distance until finally you heard nothing.  
  
Both the skeleton brothers sighed in relief simultaneously, and Sans began walking towards you. You were still sitting on the ground, your soul bobbing gently in front of you.

"You alright kid?" Sans asked, kneeling in front of you. You nod.

"I guess I am now." You say, smiling at him.

"Please forgive Undyne, human. She can be a little brash sometimes!" Papyrus said. You didn't reply. You were too busy looking at Sans who was staring at your soul.

"Was it always this color?" He asked you. 

"I mean I guess. Is there something wrong with it?" You asked him in return. Undyne had also said your soul was a weird color. What color were they supposed to be, you wondered.

"I guess it's just a little sad looking, that’s all." He shrugged.

"Excuse me?"

"We should probably get it back inside you." He said, as he raised his hand up to your soul. When he touched it a shiver went through your body, and when he pushed it back inside of you, you couldn't help but to let out a small moan. Sans was basically on top of you now, and your soul was safe back inside of your body. You couldn't stop yourself from blushing furiously. 

"All good?" He asked softly, his face only a few inches from yours. What the hell, this situation was almost as if you two were-

"Will you two quit canoodling!?" Papyrus shouted from behind Sans, interrupting your naughty thoughts, and sans climbed off of you. You felt light headed, and Sans turned to face his brother.

"Heh, sorry bro, guess our souls just connected." Sans joked.

"SANS!" Papyrus said annoyed. His hands were on his hips and he was tapping his foot impatiently. You giggled, and Sans turned back around and held his hand out to help you get up.

"Come'on kid, let’s go home."


	7. The Small Human

Sleeping that night wasn't any better. The same nightmare you had the first night you stayed here came back to you. This tall figure whose body can't seem to stay together. His face a permanent grimace, and his hands moved too quick for you to remember any of the signs. He was trying to talk to you, but your knowledge of sign language fell short. You did recognize one thing however, after you started panicking in your dream. The Inky figure slowly spelled out a name: S-A-N-S. Ever since you've woken up this morning you've been wanting to ask Sans about this person.   
  
You stood up from the couch and walked over to the window to look outside. It was lonely being in this house all alone. Papyrus had left this morning to set up his puzzles for any other humans that would have the displeasure of falling down here. You felt a tinge of pity for any other human that might fall down here. You were lucky to receive mercy from Sans, Papyrus, AND Undyne. The next human probably wouldn't be as lucky as you.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Sans made himself comfortable at his sentry station, kicking his legs up on the front and leaning back in his chair. He was exhausted after staying up all night thinking about yesterdays events. It probably wasn't necessary for him to leave in such a huff last night, but his thoughts felt clustered and he needed to get away from... you. This feeling he had for you was almost starting to become too much to bear, and all because he touched the most vulnerable part of you body.   
  
'Dammit." He thought to himself. If only Undyne hadn't been there yesterday. She would have never summoned your soul out of your body, and he never would have had to help you put it back in. Touching your human soul stirred up a certain kind of instinctual feeling inside of him that he couldn't exactly explain.  
  
He groaned, agitated, and sat back upright leaning his head on his hand. 'This is about that time when that kid comes through' he thought to himself. His memory of the timelines was vague, but certain parts always stuck with him. He listened closely for the familiar crunching of snow, and when he heard it he vanished suddenly into the small wooded path to meet his new pal.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
You decided you didn't want to be alone in this house anymore. You walked over to the door and put your boots on along with a red knitted scarf Papyrus let you borrow. It was cold outside, but at least it wasn't snowing. You still wondered how it managed to snow under neath the earth. Perhaps it was magic. You walked a short distance down to the library. You hadn't been here yet, and now was as great of a time as any. The warm air hit your face as you opened the door and melted the frost off of your eyelashes. IT smelled like old, dusty books and lemons, but it was comforting none the less.   
  
You honestly didn't know what kind of book you were looking for, you just needed something interesting enough to get your mind off of all these thoughts. You grabbed a small pink book off of the shelf which happened to be a silly looking monster romance book. You decided that this would probably be interesting enough to read for an hour or two, so you took a seat at the small table behind you.   
  
The book was interesting enough actually. It was a romance novel about a human and a monster falling in a forbidden love, similar to Romeo and Juliet. The plot was predictable course, considering you've already read the former, but reading how the author wrote the human based on limited knowledge was amusing. You could tell they didn't know much about human anotomy and you found this funny considering there were two walking skeletons wandering around. Regardless, the way the author wrote about humans was as if they were something extremely rare and desirable. It made you wonder if all monsters thought of humans this way, then you blushed thinking about Sans.   
  
"Childish..." you sighed out loud, disappointed in yourself. You were too old to be having crushes, let alone on monsters! But for some reason you just couldn't help this one. 'You've only known him for a few days, grow up!' you told yourself. You began to look out the window and daydream. 'Besides, he's a literal skeleton.', you thought, "he doesn't even have a-'. Your thought was cut short. You swear just now you saw a small child walk past the window of the library. Was this a part of your daydream? You wrung your hand in your lap nervously. But what if it was someone, and a child at that? You couldn't sit there any longer, you had to see for yourself.  
  
You left the book on the table and left the library. You looked to the left towards Sans' and Papyrus' house, but you didn't see anyone. Ha, maybe it was just a little local monster kid that looked like a human child... But you noticed small footprints leading in the direction of where Papyrus had waited before for you to battle him. 'Oh no.', you worriedly thought to your self, and began to follow them.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
They lead you exactly where you thought they would. The small child in the blue sweater was standing confidently in front of Papyrus, their bright red soul floating gracefully in front of them. You wanted to stop Papyrus from fighting the child, but something was holding you back. You looked behind you and saw sans a few feet back. When did he get here? He waved you over to him, and you gestured over towards Papyrus and the child, worry plastering your face. Sans rolled his glowing orbs which made you realize that Papyrus probably wouldn't even hurt this child. He was too innocent. You paced to where Sans was, and stood next to him to watch the child and Papyrus battle, but the human never tried to lay a finger on him. You looked down at your feet, feeling a little awkward that you hadn't said anything to Sans yet.  
  
"So, where did you run off too last night?" You asked him. You looked back up and noticed Papyrus began to look nervous, and the child was giggling happily.  
  
"I just went back to waterfall, that's all." He answered, folding his arms across his chest.  
  
"Was that the place we were at yesterday when-"   
  
"Yea." He interrupted you before you could finish asking. You guessed he didn't want to bring up Undyne.  
  
"It was beautiful there." You say, as you remember the glowing waters and whispering flowers.  
  
"We should go back sometime, ya' know, without all the-" Sans waved his hand in the air to reference all the nonsense and violence that happened yesterday.  
  
" I would love to go back."you say genuinely as you wondered what the water would feel like on your skin, if you were even allowed to touch it that is.  
  
You were glad Sans wasn't as upset anymore. Something was still bother him, you could tell, but hopefully he would forget about that soon too. You looked back toward Papyrus and noticed that he and the child were done with their "battle", and he was walking over to you and Sans with them.  
  
"I, the great Papyrus, have decided to spare this small human on the account of the fact that they would not stop flirting with me!" Papyrus said, looking a little flustered. The child giggled at him, and looked up at you smiling. You smiled back, and asked them what their name was. They held their hand up and began to sign. 'Oh!', you thought to yourself and tried to remember the letters they showed you. F-R-I-S-K, they spelled.   
  
"You're name is Frisk?" You asked them, making sure to enunciate each word clearly so they could see. They nodded. You signed back to them your own name, and you were about to sign out Sans' name but he was one step ahead of you doing it himself. You raised your eyebrows at him and he shrugged. You didn't know he could sign, and you thought back to your dream. Now wasn't the time to ask him about it though, and you signed to Frisk, asking them if they were cold. They nodded yes in response and you looked up at Papyrus.  
  
"I believe Frisk here is in need of some place to get warm, you wouldn't happen to know of such a place would you?" You asked Papyrus teasingly.

"Of course I would! He answered proudly. " Follow me, small human! Let us go to my home, and later we can start our date!", he said as he grabbed Frisks hand and led them to their house. You didn't even want to question the date thing. You looked back at Sans, who was still being quiet.  
  
"I need to ask you something Sans..." You started to tell him, wanting to talk about your dream.  
  
"Later." He said, and he grabbed your hand causing you to blush,"We should head inside too, probably need to keep and eye on them.". You nodded and allowed him to lead you back to the house.


	8. Show Me a Sign

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: this was the last post i wrote before i went to therapy! thats why its so bad!

Back inside the skeletons brother's home was warm and cozy as usual, but now felt more wholesome and welcoming with a new addition. A short kid, no more than 10 years old, with chin length brown hair and a calming demeanor. Papyrus had given them the grand tour of the home and where now playing with his action figure collection in his room. You and Sans had made yourselves comfy on the couch, giggling every now and again at Papyrus' enthusiastic voice, which was loud enough to hear from his room. All of this excitement had caused a brief distraction from the questions you had for Sans, but you knew you couldn't hold them in forever.  
  
You looked over at the short skeleton. He had leaned back into the couch comfortably, eyes closed. You almost didn't want to bother him, but you didn't want to let the unknown bother you.

"Hey Sans," You started to ask, and he peaked open one of his eyes at you.

"I guess you're dying to ask that question now, aren't you kid?" Sans said.  
  
You looked up at the ceiling. " I know you're the only person I can talk to about this." You say, "At least, that's what I was told in my dream."

"You wanna talk about your dream with me? I guess I am pretty dreamy." Sans teased.  
  
You giggled. "This is serious, Sans."

" Alright, go ahead and tell me then."  
  
You explained to Sans about the dream that had been haunting you each night since you've fallen down here. You told him about the tall figure who looked as if he couldn't quite keep himself together, and his hands that floated on either side of the figures body signing this to you at a speed you couldn't keep up with. Then you told him how they signed his name. The entire time you watched as Sans' composure went from relaxed to anxious as he stiffened in his seat. 

"So, do you know who this is?" You asked him.  
  
Sans put his head in his hand and started rubbing, visibly annoyed but you couldn't tell if it was with you or himself. "I feel like I should know. Everything seems so familiar..." He said quietly, almost to himself. "You can't remember what they were signing at all?" He asked you. You shook your head.

"I took a sign language class once, but it was basic stuff." You tell him, leaning in closer. "But I saw you sign to Frisk earlier, you looked like a professional."

"It's just something I've always been able to do." He said, a small tint of blue illuminating his cheeks.  
  
Suddenly an idea popped into your head. "Maybe you can teach me." You tell him.

"I don't know kid, I'm not a very good teacher." he tells you.

"But if you teach me maybe next time I have the dream I can tell you what they're saying." You say. Sans looked around anxiously, trying to find an excuse.  
  
He sighed, with his eyes closed he looked defeated. "You're right kid, they could be trying to tell you something." He says.

"So you'll teach me?" You say excitedly.

"Yea." He responds. "But not today, I'm exhausted.". Sans leaned back into the couch, his arms folded behind his head. "One might even say i'm bone tired.". You squinted at him.

"What did you even do today?" you asked, as you also got yourself comfortable on the couch.

"Survived.". He answered sleepily.

"That's deep." You reply teasingly. Sans grunted a response you couldn't make out, then he was dead asleep. You sighed peacefully. Sans' light breathing and the playful giggling upstairs was like a harmony to you and it was relaxing. You began dozing off into a dream, but this time a pleasant one where light was shining on a throne in a room filled with golden flowers.


	9. Adventitious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventitious [ ad-vuh n-tish-uh s ] :
> 
> associated with something by chance rather than as an integral part.

Sans’ dreams were always... complex to say the least, although usually not this disturbing. Since you fell down here they’ve become more vivid and honestly a little terrifying, and each time without fail that same horrific grimacing face would make itself known. Never directly though, always somewhere in the background as if it was observing each scenario. The dreams would start out fine, no trace of a threat.

The one he was having now was particularly nice, with Papyrus, you, and himself relaxing by translucent cyan water. You all were joking, smiling, and the tall flowers in the distance would mimic the chatter. It felt warm and comforting, something he had not often felt in recent times. You reached into the running stream of cyan water to scoop up drifting flower. It was similar to a lotus in shape, but completely matte and black, not reflecting a single bit of light off of its surface. You were admiring its unique beauty, and as Sans studied your face his eyes shifted focus onto the looming figure in the distance behind you.

Dark, cavernous eyes and a disturbed grin looked back at him. A slender tendril emerged from his body, beginning to sneak its way over to you. Distressed, Sans focused his attention back on your face to find your once curiously delighted expression had changed to a more somber one. The light had completely faded from your eyes that were still locked onto the flower in your palms. It too began to emit a web of tendrils that slowly climbed up your arms, making their way to your face.

Sans reached out and grabbed your wrist, causing you to drop the flower and finally make eye contact with him. The black web on your face had created the illusion of inky tears. You opened your mouth as if to say something, then your eyes turned pitch black.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sans jumped awake, sweating profusely and breathing like he had just run a marathon. Realizing it was just another nightmare, he sighed heavily and sunk back into the couch and turned his attention to the small weight on his shoulder. There you were, head on his shoulder fast asleep, no inky scars covering your face. You were fine, and he was relieved. His grin widened and his eyes began to droop as he began to watch you sleep, envying how absolutely peaceful you looked. He missed those days were he had absolutely no care in the world.

“What am I going to do with you?” He asked himself quietly and let out a small chuckle, careful not to disturb your rest. You nuzzled your face onto his jacketed shoulder, a bit of drool threatening to escape the corner of your mouth.

Adorable, he thought to himself as he turned his attention forward, closing his eyes. He would tease you about that in the morning, he decided.

You awoke gently to the smell of ketchup and burnt food, and you instinctively shriveled your nose in distaste. You heard a low chuckle from beside you as your head bobbed gently up and down in unison. Your eyes shot open and you sat upright when realized where it was you were just laying your head.

“mornin’ sleepy head.” Sans said to you nonchalantly with a relaxed grin on his face, though he looked… exhausted. Could skeletons look exhausted? He certainly did, with pale purple shadows decorating the space beneath his eye sockets.

“Heh, sorry ‘bout that Sans.” You replied, smiling sheepishly.

“s’okay. Just not used to havin’ someone drool all over me, is all.” He grinned.

“W-what? I-I’m not-!” You began sputtering as Sans raised his hand to point to the corner of his mouth. What? OH. You were now suddenly aware of the small wetness on the corner of your mouth. A small blush crept up your cheeks as you grabbed the hem of the shirt you were wearing to try and casually wipe it off. Of course the action didn’t go unnoticed, and you had to sit there pretending you weren’t embarrassed you just slept AND drooled on this monster who had only just recently met.

“anyways,” Sans started, attempting to break the silence, “whats up with this?” He was jabbing his thumb to the other side of him, in the direction of the side table and your broken camera that sat upon it.

“Oh, my camera?” You asked, though what else was there to be talking about. You leaned over him to retrieve it, careful not to disturb any of the important pieces threatening to fall off.

“that’s a camera? Doesn’t look like any I’ve ever seen ‘round here.” He says, brow furrowed as he analyzed the camera you were holding just above your lap. “where does the film go?” He asks.

“It’s digital.” You replied as you popped open the small compartment that housed the SD card. “The photos get stored on a small chip that gets inserted here.” You say, remembering that you placed said chip in one of the safer pockets in your bag.

“human technology never ceases to amaze me; always tryin’ to improve something that’s already seemingly perfect.” Sans said, genuinely intrigued, then he chuckled and looked up from the camera to meet your eyes. “looks kinda busted though.”

You squint and glare. “That’s because it IS, smart ass. It broke when I fell down here.” He reached out his hand, palm upward, to you. You placed the camera onto his skeletal hand, and you realized just how big they were compared to yours. Curiously, you wanted to touch them to see if they really felt the way you would think bone would feel but you resisted such actions. ‘That’s just creepy’, you thought to yourself as you watched him hold your camera up to his face to inspect it.

“you know I could probably get this fixed for ya, if ya want.” Sans said, still fervently looking at the camera.

“Can you?!” You said excitedly, gently bouncing up and down in your seat.

“yea, I can take this to alphys and see what she thinks. Shes pretty smart, good at fixin up all the human trash that falls down here.”

“I would be, like, forever in your debt if you did that for me Sans, seriously. That camera means so much to me…”

Sans hummed. “s’not a problem kiddo, though I will take you up on your eternal debt offer.” He chuckled as he looked back up at you, watching your beaming expression turn vexed.

“Don’t get any funny ideas.” You warned.

“calm down kid, no reason to snap at me.” Sans snickered, as he held the camera back up to his face and mimicked the motion of taking a picture. You couldn’t help but snort at the pun.

In that moment, the front door to the house slams open and in followed a familiar voice.

“SANS AND HUMAN.” Papyrus started, stepping enthusiastically into the house and shoving the door closed behind him. The small burst of cold air made you curl your legs up to your chest. “I feel as though I must inform you that the HUMAN CHILD FRISK has continued their journey onwards to… wherever it is they are going! HOWEVER, I am slightly worried about their inevitable encounter with Undyne and-”

You stopped him mid-sentence. “Wait, wait, hold on. You’re telling me you let a child wander off on their own? Down here?” You were honestly a little flabbergasted. Undyne nearly killed you on sight when she first saw you, you were lucky enough to have Sans and Papyrus there to intervene.

“OF COURSE HUMAN!” Replied Papyrus earnestly.

“I wouldn’t worry about them kiddo, frisk is determined, they’ll be fine.” Sans chimed in.

You stood up from the couch, a bit irritated that these two boneheads weren’t understanding the fact that they just let a defenseless child wander off to who-knows-where.

“I need some pants.” You said seriously. They both looked at you puzzled. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing when there’s a kid out there that could be in serious trouble!”

You heard Sans’ annoyed sigh next to you. What was his problem? Did he really not care if this kid died?

“DO NOT WORRY HUMAN! We shall accompany you to find Frisk!” Papyrus said excitedly. You smiled thankfully at him.

“count me out paps.” Sans said as he finally stood up from the couch, your camera in his hands. “I got some errands to run.” He slid the camera in jacket and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll uh, see you guys later, I guess.”

You scoffed and glared at him. He GUESSED? What kind of annoying, vague response was that?

“hey now, don’t be so negative, you might lose focus.” He snickered, giving you a wink. You face palmed in response, and when you took your hand away he was gone. The hell? You turned your head towards papyrus who looked a touch annoyed, but it changed quickly to that of determination.

“I SHALL FETCH YOU SOME PANTS.”


	10. At Undyne's

Damn it, Sans thought to himself as he manifested just on the outskirts of Snowdin at the entrance to the caves of Waterfall, his brow furrowed in frustration. This girl was interfering too much with this timeline. It was already enough of a hassle to have her fall down here in the first place, but now she was following Frisk around, intervening with their usually consistent path. He was afraid if she continued to get in the way, Frisk may be inclined to make different decisions than usual. They never had an issue with Frisk’s decision making before, the only real issue being the frequent resets just before they would make it to the judgment hall. He figured the kid just got too intimidated before meeting Asgore and preferred to just start all over, which was fine. As long as they stayed peaceful he had no qualms. 

Sans started walking into the cavern, He needed some time to think before he went straight to Alphy’s. He really needed to come up with a way to distract you from following Frisk any further, for now at least. He still had no idea how exactly you were going to fit into this timeline, but as it were, you apparently had fallen down here for a reason. There were too many anomalies with your descent, and the dreams you were having that featured the same haunting face. It was all just too much to be a coincidence.

Then he remembered you asking him about helping you learn more sign language to be able to decipher the figures hand movements. That, he thought, would kill two birds with one stone. A distraction from Frisks’ journey, as well as a way for him to figure out what was trying to be communicated in your dream. That… and the camera he was hoping Alphy’s would be able to piece together. Those things combined, he hoped it would be enough of a distraction from everything going on.

As long as the kid stays on track, everything will happen as it normally should. And with that last thought he disappeared in a flash of blue.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You took the longest strides your legs would make in order to keep up with obnoxiously tall skeleton as he led you deeper into the caverns towards Undyne’s house. You pulled the sting on the sweatpants you wore tighter as you walked to try and help keep them in place. The bright red pants you donned were gleefully lent to you from Papyrus’ wardrobe. They were way too big and incredibly long, so long that you had to roll them several times before your foot would go all the way through. However, they were perfectly warm, which is just what you needed as you went further into the caves where the temperature grew colder and colder.

“WE HAVE ARRIVED HUAMN!” Papyrus suddenly exclaimed. You jumped a little and looked up to see a house that, well, it looked like a fish. Fitting, you thought, for a fish person. Your bewilderment was interrupted by a loud crash in the house and the sound of furniture breaking. Oh my god she really was trying to kill that kid! Wasting no more time, you strode straight towards the front door of the house. You think you felt Papyrus try and stop you by loosely grabbing your jacket but you ignored it. With your hand gripped hard on the door you swung it open with gusto.

Inside you saw, well, not what you were expecting that’s for sure. Undyne was at Frisks’ side watching intently as Frisk aggressively stirred a large pot, of which a light smoke was starting to pool from and in the center of the kitchen was a table that had a huge, blue glowing staff shoved directly in the center. They were so focused that you busting through the door didn’t startle them at all, and you stood there in the door way with your mouth slightly agape.

“I see the small human is receiving one of Undyne’s famed cooking lessons! How incredibly exciting, I shall assist!” Papyrus declared, and he gently moved you aside so he could enter the fish woman’s home. She must’ve noticed Papyrus moving towards her in her peripheral, because she turned quickly, a wide toothy grin on her face.

“Papyrus! This kid is an absolute cooking prodigy!” Undyne shouted passionately.

“NYEH HEH HEH! I can see that some of your cooking prowess has rubbed off on the small human, however, I, The great Papyrus have noticed their technique is lacking a bit!” Papyrus proudly exclaimed. “I am after all only just short of a cooking master, and thus I shall INSIST that I ASSIST!” You watched as Frisk passed the large spoon they were stirring with earlier off to Papyrus, with which he gripped tightly with both hands and began stirring the contents of the large pot furiously. 

You finally shut the door behind you and walked towards the dining table, pulled out a chair, and sat down to watch the fiasco occurring before you. Frisk turned to you, a large smile plastering their face and gave you a thumbs up. Resting your head on your hand, you smiled back at them and sighed with relief. Sans was right, you thought. The kid was okay; you’re not quite sure how but they were and that’s all that mattered. You felt as though you could, maybe, trust the shorter skeleton brother a little more.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It would be at least another 25 minutes before both Undyne and Papyrus were satisfied with their cooking. You watched mildly entertained as they emptied the whole pot onto a large plate, creating a splattering mess of red on everything, including themselves. They didn't seem to mind though, and you continued observing as Undyne carried the huge plate of what you now identified as spaghetti over to the table where you sat, slamming it down with great force. It startled you, and caused you to sit up straight, a hint of terror on your face as you looked up at the fish woman who was now hunched over the plate looking right at you.

" You know, I really didn't trust you when I first saw ya." Undyne started. "But the kid told me they trust ya, so... I guess I'll have to learn to trust you too."

"Uh, th-thanks, I think?" You stuttered. "I'm not really sure why you see me as a threat when you're the one with the massive biceps..."

Undyne looked flattered, and stood up straight to flex and show off her arms.

"These things? Hah, they are pretty impressive aren't they?" She bragged. Papyrus nodded in agreement. "ALRIGHT, enough chit chat! Let' freaking eat! What ya say kid?" She looked down at Frisk who was sitting across from you now with several forks in their hand. They nodded excitedly. You weren't really sure you wanted to eat the mess on the plate they had labeled as spaghetti, but it appeared you had no choice so you dug in anyways.

"So..." You started in an attempt to break the silence and perhaps try to learn something about your new fishy friend, and maybe even try and get her to spill some more info about the Underground. You did still need to get out of here after all. You continued your question "What is it exactly that you do around here?"

Undyned snorted, stabbing her fork down into the already irreparably damaged table.

"You're telling me you haven't heard of me? Honestly I'm a little offended that Papyrus hasn't been raving about me to you after we first met!" She said, jokingly offended. "I'm the head of the Royal Guard!"

"The Royal Guard? Like, for a king or something?" You asked, absentmindedly twirling the noodles on your plate.

"Exactly." 

"So, who exactly is the king?"

"GOD you and Frisk are just both as clueless huh?" She joked.

"We cannot blame the humans for not knowing our culture!" Papyrus chimed in.

"Yeah but we can sure as hell blame them for putting us down here." Undyne stated plainly, a hint of spite in her voice. You looked down at your plate uncomfortably.

"Not that it is either of your faults!" Papyrus said in an attempt to be reassuring. You knew the history, but you tried not to think about it. Nobody did on the surface. It was an uncomfortable topic to say the least.

"Well, Frisk and I think you guys are all right. I'm sure we could help find a way to get you guys out of here." You said, turning to look at Frisk. You noticed a small frown on their face. Papyrus had paused his eating as well, looking off to the side. Did you say something wrong?

"Technically you humans have already been helping, with giving us your souls and all." Undyne said un-bothered.

Uh what? "Excuse me?" You said confused.

"We've been usin' human souls for a while now to try and break the barrier that keeps us trapped down here. I don't really get how it all works, that's Alphy's job, I just know you humans got some powerful souls." Undyne casually replied.

You rub your temples in utter confusion. " I'm really not following. Who exactly are you getting these souls from?" You ask.

"You weren't the first human to fall down here ya know."

Then it all suddenly clicked. Oh god why. All those kids that fell down here in the past...

"W-what did you do to them?" You whispered, eyes wide and staring into Undynes' own unwavering, yellow orbs. You felt like you already had an idea of what they did though.

"I mean I-, I was just doing what I was ordered to do! Undyne stated, frustration clear on her face and maybe even a tinge of guilt. "Asgore said it was the only way, and you wouldn't understand. Being trapped down here..."

"I-IT IS NOT SO BAD HUMAN, REALLY!" Papyrus stuttered in an attempt to diffuse the situation. 

"Not so bad?! You guys have been kidnapping children and doing god knows what to them I just- I can't believe any of this right now." You said, standing up from the table. Just what have you gotten yourself into. You felt confused, conflicted even. Just when you were starting to maybe trust them...

"ARRGHH!" Undyne yelled as she slammed her fist down on the table, further destroying it. "I didn't like doing it okay! And- and I've decided I don't want to do it anymore either! That's why Frisk needs to go and talk to Asgore, maybe there's another way we don't know about!" Frisk perked up from the sound of their name. You looked over at them and they looked... determined. But you weren't having it.

"You really think sending a kid out there to talk to a murderer is gonna solve anything?" You stated in disbelief, turning your head back at Undyne. Why did everyone have so much confidence in this kid? Though looking back at them, you could guess why. They really did exude determination and certainty.

You couldn't say you had either of those attributes.

Then you watched as they signed out to you from across the table. 'Everything is going to be ok.'

You lowered your head in half defeat and sighed, returning to your seat. Then you crossed your arms and huffed.

"Don't think i'm just going elide all of this."

"I don't blame ya." Said Undyne understandingly.

Both your head and your heart felt heavy. All of this was just.. too much information to process right now, It you were really only left with more questions than answers. But one thing was for certain, you needed to go with Frisk to see Asgore.

"Adult human!" Papyrus began to speak. "Perhaps it is time that we headed home?" He must have noticed the tired look on your face.

"Yeah, I think I'm just feeling a bit overwhelmed from all this new information... Frisk, are y-"

You were interrupted by Undyne. "Frisk is gonna spend the night here, isn't that right kiddo!?" She said, as she leaned over to put Frisk in a friendly headlock. Frisk gave you a big smile and a double thumbs up. 'They'll...be ok, right?' you thought to yourself.

You felt a bony hand on your shoulder. You looked up and saw Papyrus standing their confidently nodding his head, as if he had read your mind.

"Alright then," you sighed "let's go home Papyrus."


	11. Baggage

The sky was just beginning to get dark when you and papyrus returned from Undyne’s. You assumed Sans wasn’t back yet, since Papyrus skipped his usual entrance announcement. Papyrus, ever jovial, took a seat on the couch and asked if you would like to join him for a bit of a Mettaton binge. You didn’t know what a Mettaton was, but you weren’t going to be paying attention to any of what was on the screen anyways. Your mind was clouded with everything that you had learned that afternoon from Undyne. It was the first time, since you fell down here, that you actual felt a little scared. Somewhere out there in this Underground was a literal monster that had killed children, and Frisk was going to go there to try and talk it out. Oh, and it was supposedly the only way out of here. Just... what the hell.

You had questions. Lots of them. You needed them answered, but you didn’t feel as though Papyrus was going to give you any kind of explanation. He seemed very uncomfortable earlier with the subject, and… he was too sweet. You couldn’t bother him anymore with it. So with him out of the question, that left you with Sans. Maybe he would…?

You felt a shifting from Papyrus on the couch next to you and noticed he was struggling to stay awake. You asked him if he was tired and that he could go ahead and go to bed if he wanted, he didn’t need to stay up with you. He eagerly obliged but he would need a bed time story to properly fall asleep, and since Sans wasn’t here you would have to substitute. You found it oddly adorable that this was the kind of relationship the two skeleton brothers had. You were an only child, so sibling relationships were a mystery to you, but as you sat on the floor next to Papyrus’ bed reading one of the many children’s books from his collection you felt a tinge of content creep up into your heart.

You stopped reading as soon as you heard Papyrus’ peaceful snoring, and made your way back downstairs. You lied down on the couch, your head on the armrest, and stared up at the ceiling. It had to have only been a minute or so before you felt the familiar feeling of static electricity in the air. You glanced over to the center of the living room and watched as Sans casually stepped through a beam of bright cyan light.

What the hell that was probably one of the most horrifyingly amazing things you had ever seen.

Sans noticed the bewildered look on your face and let out an amused chuckle.

“if you think that’s cool, you ain’t seen nothing yet babe.” He chortled. Babe? That was new. You elected to ignore it as you sat upright. He looked a little embarrassed.

“uh, glad to see your still here.”

“Yeah...” you breathed, looking down at your feet. “Hey Sans, I need to ask you about some…stuff I heard today.” You began nervously messing with the bottom hem of your shirt.

“hmm..” Sans hummed, and you looked up at him. He appeared to be pretending to think about it. ‘Quit teasing!’ you thought to yourself.

“yeah, I think I might be able to help, depends on the ‘stuff’ though.” He gave you a small shrug and a wink.

You gave the spot next to you on the couch a gentle pat, inviting him to come with you. When he sat down you looked at him solemnly.

“In all seriousness Sans, I want answers. I want to know if what I heard is true, and I don’t want you to dodge and questions. Think you can handle that?” You ask.

“try me.” He says, and boy do you. You can see him stiffen up bit by bit as you relay everything that Undyne told you earlier that day, but his eyes never waver from yours.

“So I guess…I just want to make sure all of what she told me is true.” You say finally.

Sans briefly looked reluctant to answer, and he nervously began rubbing the back of his skull, his eyes pointed up at the ceiling.

“yeah…-, I mean yes.” He stuttered a bit. “what she said is true… but it’s not as black and white as you’re thinking.”

“I don’t really think killing children falls into the morally gray category Sans.” You say as you stare at your clenched hands on your lap. “You didn’t hurt anyone, did you?” you ask, and look up at him to see his answer. The lights in his eyes were gone, and you saw nothing but darkness and discomfort.

The lights returned to his eye sockets and he looked down guiltily. That was all of an answer you needed. You brought your legs to your chest and put your head on your knees, trying to hold back tears. You weren’t one for crying like a baby, but you were scared god dammit! You felt helpless and vulnerable and-

You flinched, feeling a skeletal hand touch your shoulder. You glanced up and over at Sans who looked hurt that you were suddenly so afraid of him, and it made you feel just so incredibly terrible. Sans and Papyrus had nothing but open arms since you fell down here… and you knew deep down that Sans wouldn’t ever hurt you. You felt the tears in your eyes start to well up and you tried to quickly wipe them away with your hand.

“I-I’m so sorry Sans, I know you wouldn’t really hurt me. I’m just…s-so scared and-” Your blubbering was interrupted when the skeleton pulled you into an embrace, and for the first time in a long time you wept.

You and Sans sat there, your arms wrapped around each other as you cried into his shoulder. His hand rubbed your back, and between each sob you made he muttered comforting words.

“please don’t be scared.”

“it’s gonna be alright.”

“i’ll keep you safe.”

At some point you passed out from all the crying and you only regained some consciousness because you had to pee. When you attempted to get up though, something was keeping you held down. Opening your eyes you realized that you had fallen asleep on top of Sans, and he was keeping you there in a vice grip. You wiggle your body some, trying to loosen his grip so you could get some leverage to push yourself off him. You wiggle your body some, trying to loosen his grip so you could get some leverage to push yourself off him.

“nnnng..” You heard Sans groan in protest, tightening his grip.

“Sans, you bone head, let me go.” You plea.

He opens one eye and mumbles. “no.”

“Seriously, I need to go to the bathroom and you’re not. Helping! You give a little more of a struggle, this skeleton was seriously strong for not having any muscles!

With a defeated sigh he releases you from the embrace and you push yourself up from on top of him, and then you head straight to the bathroom. You catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror as you step inside and you notice you look just as flustered as you feel. You make a halfhearted attempt to straighten your hair out and splash some water on your face to cool down. ‘You need to calm down’, you thought to yourself. You were upset and he tried to comfort you. That’s all.

You couldn’t lie to yourself though; you liked how safe he had made you feel when you were at your most vulnerable. For what seemed like the millionth time you wondered just what exactly you had gotten yourself into.

Going back down the stairs you saw that Sans was now sitting on the couch upright, his arms behind his head, and you could practically hear the gears turning in his head. He was thinking hard about something. He turned his head to look at you, finally noticing you making your way back over to sit next to him on the couch.

“Thank you Sans…” you say. “For letting me cry on you I mean, I shouldn’t have just unleashed my emotional baggage on you like that.”

“heh, just consider me your personal bellhop kid.” He snorts, and then in a more deadpan tone he adds “i was serious you know, about the keeping you safe thing.”

“I know.” You breathe. You really did believe him.

“you have to promise me something though.” He turned to look at you.

You contemplate only briefly. “Okay, I promise.”

And then, in the most grievous tone you’ve ever heard his voice, he commanded:

“no more following frisk.”

Your heart sunk.

“and no going to see Asgore.”

Well, shit.


	12. Soul Connection

You stared at sans in disbelief. How did he know you were planning on going with Frisk to see Asgore? Could he read your mind or something?

“to answer your question no, I cannot read minds.” Sans teased.

“Oh that is NOT helping your case buddy.” You scoff. You’re pretty sure he was joking but… well you weren’t really sure what he was capable of.

“you’re just incredibly easy to read.”

“I can’t say the same for you.” You attempt to analyze his expression, but it’s near impossible to decipher from his face alone. You look away from him. “Why don’t you want me to go with Frisk? Surely you can’t expect a young kid to convince the King of the Underground to show some mercy by themselves...”

Sans shrugged.

“guess I don’t really know what to expect, but hey it’s Frisk. The kid has a way with talking people down. Heck, they were able to befriend Undyne by themselves.”

You sigh, and sans places his hand on top of yours, the small gesture making your heart skip a beat.

“plus, I can’t keep you safe if you wander off and get yourself into trouble. Not all of the monsters you’ll run into will be as friendly as the ones here in Snowdin.”

You chew on your lip for a moment before letting a thought escape, “Why do you care so much about me all of a sudden?” You look over at him and see that the lights in his eyes have gone completely, leaving noting bat dark voids in his sockets. You swallow hard, nervous at the sight, but within seconds he’s back to normal.

He takes his hand away from yours and leans away from you a bit, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket.

“um…” Sans hesitates. He sounds uncomfortable, and you watch his face as he stares into the distance and tries to think of a way to relay this information to you.

“do you remember… back when you first met Undyne?” He says, and looks back up at you.

You nod. How could you forget? She nearly killed you, after all.

“and do you remember how Undyne pulled your soul from you?”

You put your hand on your heart. Your soul… that was still such a new concept to you, but you remembered clearly how vulnerable you felt with it outside of your body.

“Yes, I remember.” You breathe.

“well… when I was helping you get it back in, i-I guess I wasn’t paying any attention at the time, maybe I was panicking or w-whatever…” You watched Sans as he stuttered, noticing a bead of sweat on his skull.

You furrow your brow at him, obviously confused.

“i touched it. your soul, i mean.” He was looking away from you at this point, clearly uncomfortable with this whole situation. You were still confused. Why was this bothering him so much?

“I’m not following. You saved me by putting my soul back.”

“i shouldn’t have touched it, I messed up...” Sans puts his head in his hands, but you’re having none of that. You grab his boney wrist to try and pull his hand away, to get him to look at you.

“Sans, I really don’t understand. At all. And you need to explain to me what exactly you’re so upset about.” You say, and your heart rate starts to pick back up again. Did he mess up your soul somehow by touching it? Were you dying? No, you’re not dying calm down…

Sans reluctantly pulled his hands away from his face but you kept your hand on his wrist, trying to give him whatever kind of comfort you could. You thought maybe you could pick up a light blue tint across his face.

You listened as he took a shaky breath. “soul touching is… please don’t freak out when I say this,”

You tense up a bit. Oh god, you were dying.

“it’s an intimate thing…it’s something you’re only supposed to do when you’re ready to commit your life to someone...” His eyes were no longer faltering from yours.

Oh.

“we’ve soul bonded, well, only partially at least…”

Oh…!

“you’re freaking out aren’t you.” He stated plainly.

“Y-Yes! I mean no…” Oh hell, what were you feeling? Embarrassed? Guilty?

“I guess in simpler terms we have a connection now, more so for me than for you since I’m the one that touched your soul but… yea.” Sans tense shoulders lowered a bit, as if this conversation was a physical weight he had been carrying on his shoulders.

You were feeling a mix of emotions; relief that you weren’t dying was an immediate one, but there were others flying around that you couldn’t individually decipher they were so muddled.

“Are you… okay? I mean am I making you uncomfortable…?” You finally ask.

“other than the vice grip you have on my wrist, I’m fine.” Sans chuckles nervously.

Oops. You hadn’t realized you were still holding on to him, and you retract quickly. Sans looked a little hurt by this.

“you don’t need to be afraid of me you know. nothing’s changed, i just can’t have you running off and getting yourself hurt because, well, it hurts me too.”

You didn’t want Sans to hurt because of you, that you knew for certain, but you still couldn’t shake the thought of Frisk running around the underground by themselves. You also knew you didn’t have much of a choice at this point. You made a promise, and you were going to keep it.

You sigh, feeling defeated. “I guess I can put up with you having a crush on me, bonehead.” You give Sans a small smile.

“I mean it’s a bit more serious than that but… thanks for throwing me a bone.”

There’s a short awkward silence before you speak up again.

“I guess this whole soul bonding thing explains why I was so comfortable crying on you earlier…I mean that’s not something I usually feel comfortable doing.” You blush, thinking back on how easy it was for you to just…trust him completely.

“hmm, yea I’d imagine even though it’s only a partial bond that you would be able to feel more safe around me.” Sans says.

“You keep mentioning that this is only a partial bond. What would make it a complete one, exactly?” You ask innocently.

Sans grin widens, the amusement reaching his eyes. “woah kid, ready to jump my bones already?” You roll your eyes, but you’re blushing so hard you can feel your face burning. He had told you it was intimate but you didn't think he meant it like that.

“i didn’t think that just me touching your soul would be affecting you this much.” Ok, he was getting too much enjoyment out of teasing like this.

He must've noticed noticed your discomfort because his expression immediately relaxed.“ok, I’m sorry, no more teasing, come’ere” He holds is arms out to you and you scoot closer to him to fall into his embrace. Why was it so easy to be complacent like this?

“you know, if this is making you uncomfortable you don’t need to be doing it just for my sake.” He states sincerely.

You exhale, letting out a small hum. “I know, but it just feels…right.”

You turn your body around so you can see Sans’ face. You were laying on top of him at this point and he looked content. You smile to yourself, trying to enjoy all of what you were feeling before the darkness in the back of your mind would inevitably creep up on you.

“Sans, can you promise me something?” You ask.

“i’m not one to make promises…but go ahead.” He sounded like he could fall asleep any second.

“Just promise me you’ll keep an eye on Frisk for me, and that we’ll try to find another way to get out…”

You hear Sans hum what sounds like an “alright” before he drifts off. You sigh, and let yourself relax to join him.


	13. Shortcuts

Sans waited until he knew you were fast asleep before he actually let himself relax, only pretending to have fallen asleep earlier to get out of explaining any more of this mess he has gotten himself into. And as much as his soul wanted to stay here with you, he knew he needed to get out of the house if he wanted any chance of thinking clearly.

He sat up slowly, being cautious not to jostle you too much. As he held you sitting upright he admired the peaceful expression on your sleeping face and how the moonlight from the window behind the couch was casting an ethereal glow upon you. ‘you really are something, huh.’ Sans thought to himself, as he started to move his body out from underneath yours. With the upper part of your body still being supported by him, he gently lowered the rest of you down onto the couch. He lingered there for a moment to make sure you were still sound asleep before taking a shortcut up to his room.

A little unnecessary, he thought, but he knew if he didn’t get away from you then he might’ve just stayed there forever watching you sleep.

Sans groaned, infuriated at his self for feeling like this, and threw himself face down on his bed. He couldn’t lie to himself; he really liked how good it felt for you to be around him. Heck, you letting him hold you in his arms allowed him to feel some of the most euphoric sensations he’s ever felt emanate from his soul.

But he knew those feelings were exaggerated and incredibly one sided, not to mention how careless it would be for him to just suddenly fall head over heels for you like this.

Sans rolled over onto his back to stare at the ceiling, making a half-assed attempt to try and focus on something other than how absolutely perfect you looked lying there in his arms…

Shit…

Sans quickly accepted the fact he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight, and he would make sure he was the first out of the house as soon as Papyrus woke up.

You awoke to the sound of dishes clanking against each other and soft humming from the direction of the kitchen. You groaned quietly to yourself, shoving your face down into the couch seat cushion to try and ignore the sounds that interrupted what was the best sleep you had since you had fallen down here.

Then you realized that it didn’t make any sense that you were asleep directly on top of the couch, since you clearly remember falling asleep on top of Sans… Was that all just a dream? Your thoughts were foggy and you attempted to resurface the memories of last night as you pushed yourself up off the couch.

You rubbed your eyes and turned your head to observe the area in which you were sure you had fallen asleep with the skeleton, but he was nowhere on the couch. Odd, you thought to yourself. How did he manage to get out from underneath you without waking you up? In hindsight, it was probably better he wasn’t there as you didn’t want to remember how nice you felt laying with him. You really did wonder if you were dreaming all that cuddling up.

“Human! You are finally awake!” You heard papyrus say happily, his glee filled voice chasing away any lingering grogginess you had in your head.

You look up at him and give him a sleepy smile. “Morning, Paps.”

“Yes, a good morning indeed! It appears that you have finally gotten some adequate sleep. I am glad. However, you have slept quite late and I must go out to attend to my duties as a sentry! This means unfortunately I will not be able to ‘hang out’ with you, as the cool monsters say!”

“That’s okay Papyrus.” You say and let out a small yawn and stretch. “I’ll just wait until you get back to hang out with you.” You toss a sincere smile at him. You really did enjoy his company even if he was a bit too loud at times. He had a childlike aura that made it hard to not have a good time with him.

“Nyeh heh heh! Then I shall be off! Try not to have too much fun without me, human! Though I am certain that would be impossible as I am the most fun skeleton I know!” Papyrus boasts as he lets himself out the front door. You shake your head and smile to yourself.

And then you revel in the fact that it seemed you had the whole house to yourself. You still weren’t sure where Sans went, but you doubted he would still be in his room. There’s no way Papyrus would have left knowing he was still fast asleep. You wondered, if now would be a good time to do some snooping. It wasn’t beneath you to be a bit nosey, and desperate times called for desperate measures. And you still wanted to return to the surface, right? Perhaps you weren’t desperate to get out but, as much as you were starting to let yourself get comfortable being here in the Underground, you had people on the surface who were probably worried sick over your disappearance. At least, you hoped you did.

There was also the fact that there was a literal child running around, putting themselves in danger, that you felt the need to keep safe. All you needed to do was find another way to get out that didn’t involve killing children, and heck, if you could get all of the monsters out of the underground too that would be a bonus.

But as it were, you had no idea how to even begin such a feat. This is why you felt it necessary to do some snooping around in the skeleton brothers’ home. You didn’t know what you were expecting to find to be honest, but anything was better than nothing at this point.

You finally stood yourself up off the couch and gave your body one final stretch. You were really going to need to find better sleeping accommodations than the couch you’ve been sleeping on for the past few days. It was wreaking havoc on your body…

You decided to start your search at Sans’ room, since you felt like he had more to hide than Papyrus would. You gave his door a light knock and called his name to make sure he really wasn’t just hiding in there. There was no answer and, as you turned the knob to gain entry, you weren’t surprised to find the door locked. That darn skeleton was so cryptic, and the color shifting light emanating from underneath his door wasn’t helping in your curiosities!

Papyrus’ room was just as unhelpful as you thought it would be. The tall skeleton really wore his personality on his sleeve, and his room was a true display of his childlike whimsy. The only place in there you were really interested in looking through was his computer. He didn’t even have it password protected, that silly naïve skeleton. Though that most likely just meant he didn’t have anything to hide. You were right on this assumption, as the only interesting thing on his computer was his chat logs where Papyrus would quarrel with Sans over his jokes. Adorable, but not helpful.

You’re final place of exploration inside the house was the kitchen. You checked every single cabinet, only to find completely normal dishes and cutlery. The fridge on the other hand, while providing nothing of use, was nearly filled with containers of what you assumed was Papyrus’ spaghetti. The rest of the space was occupied with bottles of ketchup. You made a mental note to ask Papyrus about grocery shopping so you wouldn’t have to live on spaghetti for the duration of your stay and shut the refrigerator door.

Feeling defeated that you had unsuccessfully dug up any information on the skeletons, you decided that maybe you could go back to the library to find a book on… well anything that you thought might be helpful at this point.

So with that thought, you threw on your boots and jacket and head out the door.

The library was just how you remembered it being the first time you were there. Nearly empty of patrons, just a few monsters reading to themselves among the few tables there were. You smiled politely at the lizard monster manning the front desk as you continued inside.

“Can I help you find anything, ma’am?” The monster asked you in a hushed tone. You wracked your brain for a moment, trying to think of literally anything that you could use more information on.

Then you remembered.

“Actually, would you happen to have any kind of informational books on souls?”

The monster looked at you quizzically, maybe even a little nervous. “Yes, of course. They would be over this way…”

You followed the monster over to one of the shelves in the far corner and watched as they pulled out a very worn, maroon colored book. They handed it to you and you took a moment to admire the gold embossed detail and lettering on the front that read simply ‘The History of the SOUL’.

“This book is actually a more revised version of the original, but it should still suit your needs.” The monster whispered to you, before taking their spot back at their desk.

You found a seat at the nearest empty table and gently set the book down on the table. You opened it to the glossary and skimmed through it, hopping something would jump out at you. Ah hah!

A chapter titled ‘The Dichotomy of Human and Monster Souls’ stuck out like a sore thumb, it being the only one to mention the word ‘human’.

You hummed softly to yourself as you turned to the chapter’s page number, feeling anxious about the information you may be able to uncover, and began to read:

“Although our records and knowledge of the Monster Soul are vast and extensive, little is known of the functionality of the Human Soul. Most of our data was expunged after the war of Humans and Monsters, and what little we know now is only a byproduct of memories and recent, albeit limited, studies performed by the formidable Dr. Alphys.”

Alphys… now that name rang a bell. Wasn’t she the one that Sans took your camera to have it repaired? She must be incredibly smart to have her work mentioned in this book… you’ll have to remember to ask Sans what his relationship is with her.

“Regardless of whether one is a Monster or a Human, the soul remains the very essence one’s being. Without the soul, the being shall cease to exist. The differences between the two souls come down to its composition and whether or not it maintains the ability to persist after death.”

“Monster Souls, which visually appear white with their point facing downwards, are comprised of love, hope, and compassions. The monster and their soul are one entire entity. Without their soul a monster cannot live, and without life the soul will cease to exist.”

“A Humans soul, however, is not the entirety of their being, but rather their essence housed in a physical body. Human souls have been observed to exist in a variety of colors, we believe the colors are related to the dominate trait of each individual human. The traits of the Human soul are unique to each, and in recent studies it has been noted that their souls are able to exist entirely on determination.”

“Determination is a trait that is unique to humans, and it is believed that this trait is their most powerful weapon as well as their main driving force. Dr. Alphys’ studies have found, though in varying amounts, determination in each human soul that has been captured in the history of the underground…”

You stop reading, feeling sick to your stomach. For some reason you still wanted to believe that the human murdering was a sick joke, but seeing this only confirmed it more. You clench your fist tight, focusing on the feeling of your nails digging into your palm in an attempt to quell the sick feeling in your gut.

You decided you were done reading. You placed the book back in its spot on the shelf and gave the librarian and solemnly wave before heading outside and towards the forests outside of Snowdin.

“Damn this cold.” You cursed under your breath as you attempted to hide more of your face in the collar of your jacket. The cold was beginning to nip at nose and the ends of your appendages, but you were on a mission to find a certain skeleton and you weren’t going to let the chill stop you.

You weren’t really sure what you were expecting, retracing your steps all the way back to where you remember Sans’ outpost being. You weren’t even sure if he was there to begin with. Perhaps it was all that human determination that book was rambling abou-

Oof.

Your thoughts were interrupted as you tripped over and landed face first into a pile of snow. Ugh, and you thought you were cold before...!

Suddenly you heard a familiar laugh, and as you tried to push yourself up out of the snow you saw those familiar black shorts and pink slippers.

“looks like you could use a hand.” Sans snickered.

“J-just get me out! I’m f-freezing my ass off.” You grumble through the chattering of your teeth.

“okay, no hands then.” He teased.

“You can’t just leave me here to free-ah!” Your words were interrupted with a shout, as a warm and tingly feeling encapsulated your whole body. Then, as if by magic, you were being gently lifted up out of the snow pile. Your head whipped over to Sans, and you watched as he focused one glowing blue eye on your now levitating body. His eye followed you as you were lowered feet first back onto the ground, and when the pleasant feeling around your body disappeared so did the glow in Sans’ eye. You shivered.

‘so, uh, you ok?” Sans asked. He was standing right in front of you now, wearing the most shit eating grin you’ve ever seen. You squint at him, un-amused.

“yikes, your being awfully cold towards me, don’t ya think?” He tilted his head. “what are you doing out here anyways?”

“I-I w-was looking for y-you.” You manage to stutter. You couldn’t feel your toes anymore you were so cold.

“oh icy, you were feeling bonely huh.” He snorts. “heh, ok no more jokes, i think you might actually be freezing to death.” His expression was no longer smug, and he even looked a little concerned.

“let’s go back to the house before I have to explain to paps why you’ve turned into a human bisicle.”

You look down at your feet to confirm that they are in fact still there.

“I j-just walked all the w-way out h-here to find you though…”

Sans gives you a wink “we’ll just take a shortcut back.”

“Sh-shortcut?” You furrow your brow, puzzled over how there could be a shortcut back to town when it’s one straight shot.

“yup, watch this.” Sans says as he steps up next to you and turns, both of you now facing the same direction.

You oblige, eager to see more of his magic. You watch as a swirl of blue light forms over one of his eye sockets, and another around his hand which he raises. He snaps his fingers, the magic around his hand disappears, and before the both of you there’s a quick flash of bright light. Then you see it.

It was like something out of a video game, you thought to yourself. Like a portal or something. You walk towards it in obvious amazement, and just inside the glowing outline of the portal you can see a mirage like image of the skeleton brothers’ living room. Without thinking you stick your hand through the image, but the overwhelming sensation caused you to quickly retreat it.

“What is this…” you whisper, mostly to yourself in your awe.

“it’s the shortcut.” Sans answers as he moves beside you. “first time going through is probably going to be… really weird. Just don’t hesitate and you should be fine.”

You frown at the word ‘should’. Sans notices, and gives you a grin before he offers his hand to you.

“we can go through together, if you’re having any doubts.”

You take his hand and he gives yours a gentle squeeze. It felt oddly nice despite being made of bone, and you could feel a faint hum of energy surging through it.

“ok, on the count of three we go through. ready?”

You nod.

“1…2…3.”

With Sans initiative you both went through his shortcut. You squeeze your eyes shut as you feel your stomach drop quickly, and when you open them a second later you find you are no longer out in the snowy forests of Snowdin, but instead the warm and cozy living room you’ve become so familiar with.


	14. Discomfort and Understanding

You blinked in rapid succession, allowing your eyes to adjust to the sudden difference in lighting. There was a strong ringing in your ears from the rush of adrenaline and your heart felt like it was going a mile a minute. It was like you were having some kind of out of body experience. You looked over at Sans to try and ground yourself and found him still holding your hand, eyeing it with concern. The ringing was beginning to die down now, allowing you to focus more on what exactly it was he was so worried about.

Sans held your hand so your fingers were pointing straight up. “don’t freak out, but I think something’s wrong.” He said, the concern in his voice snapping you completely out of your daze.

You brought your gaze over to your hand to look for what he meant, and you found that the tips of your fingers were concerning shade of red, maybe on the border of turning purple. This is what you get for not wearing gloves, you sneer to yourself. You could only assume your toes were of a similar appearance, hence why you could no longer feel them.

Sans was beginning to sweat from your silence, no trace of light in his sockets. You chuckle softly at him and he relaxes a little, letting the light return to his eyes.

“It’s fine bonehead, they’re just a little frost nipped.” You finally say. Sans tilts his head at you in confusion.

“From the cold…” you add.

“ok so how do we make them go back to normal?” He asks as he gently touches the tips of his phalanges to yours. You can’t feel it.

“I just need to warm up. I think usually you’re supposed to use another person’s body heat but…” You make eye contact with Sans, forcing back a smirk.

“heh, no bones about it, you’re out of luck with that notion.” Sans chuckled, giving you a light shrug.

“A bath will have to do then.” You say.

Then you remembered the whole reason you trekked out there in the freezing cold in the first place.

“Wait, I almost forgot I had things to talk to you about! You’re not going back out are you?”

“i dunno, paps might get mad if he sees I’m not at my post…” Sans answered with a hint of malice in his voice. You squint at him in suspicion.

“I’m holding you captive then.” You state as you grab his hand and tug him along with you up the stairs to the bathroom.

“Sit.” You say as you push down on Sans shoulders. He does so reluctantly and gives you a light glare.

“Sorry, but I feel like you’re trying to avoid me and unfortunately you’re the only one I have access to that can answer my questions.”

“tibia honest, I’m just a little disappointed you didn’t want me in the bath with you.” Sans teased.

You feel that familiar heat rise to your cheeks, and you quickly turn your head to break your eye contact with Sans.

“J-Just keep your back to me! This is serious Sans, no peaking.” You stutter, as you turn the bathwater on.

“i could probably think up of about a hundred other places that are more serious than a bathroom, but continue.” He said facetiously.

You had to admit maybe you were being a little overzealous but you didn’t like that Sans magically had things to do whenever you felt like prodding and inquiring more information about Monsters and the Underground.

“In all seriousness Sans, if you wanted to leave you could have by now so something’s keeping you here.” You say as a matter of fact as you being to undress. Sans says nothing in response and when you look over at him you can see he is sitting cross legged on the linoleum; his head resting in his hand. You almost feel bad for subjecting him to this. Almost.

The bath was filled a good amount now, and even though you knew the water in the tub was lukewarm you knew just as well it was going to hurt like hell on your frozen extremities. ‘Well, here goes nothing’ you pep talk mentally to yourself before stepping into the water.

‘This girl was clearly bat shit insane. Had she completely forgotten all of the stuff you had told her about the soul bonding last night, or was this how she got her sick kicks?’ Sans fumbled over his thoughts as his soul fluttered rapidly in his chest. He couldn’t fathom that you were just there behind him, right now, completely vulnerable. It was taking an obscene amount of willpower on his part to keep his “calm” composure and not just turn around to rip your soul right out from your body so he could experience more of what he felt from the first time…

“Ow, what the fuck!” You hissed between your teeth, allowing Sans to snap out of his thoughts. He shifted uncomfortably, resisting the urge to turn around and make sure you were ok.

“uh, is everything alright?” He asked, turning his head ever so slightly in your direction.

“It’s fine! Everything’s cool, I mean the water isn’t but I’m not like dying or anything.” You say quickly.

You begin to lower your body down into the water, exhaling sharply through your nose as you brace yourself for another influx of pain.

“This is why we pick cuddling as a first option…” You chuckle to yourself. Sans body stiffened. Oh how he wished he could’ve been cuddling you right now instead of, to put it boldly, have you tease him like this.

Sans hurriedly shooed the intrusive and uncharacteristic thoughts of his away before he spoke again “so, what did ya dig up this time around you need answers for?”

“Oh! Right so I went to the library again just out of pure impulse, and I honestly didn’t have any idea what I was expecting to find to be honest with you but I remembered that you were going on and on about souls and how important they are to your society and-” You stopped mid-sentence. “That wasn’t a dream was it?”

Sans laughed nervously. “ah, no. It wasn’t.” He heard the water in the tub swish around you as you shifted uncomfortably.

“I’m making this harder for you aren’t I…”

Sans wasn’t sure whether he wanted to chew you out for this situation you dragged him in or just flat out lie to you but thankfully he would have to do neither as his phone began to repetitively beep at him. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and looked at the screen to see who the source of the notifications was.

“Who’s that?” You ask quietly.

Sans read the notifications to himself quickly.

“it’s Alphys, she’s got your camera all fixed up.” He says, as he starts to stand up. He turned to look at you now, not caring if you got pissed at him, and was only partially disappointed to find you hugging your knees to your chest preventing him from any kind of view he may have had.

“hurry up and warm your bones kid, and then we can go get your camera back.” Sans sighed, as he walked out the bathroom shutting the door behind him.

Well. You really messed it up this time. It was NOT in your intentions to make Sans physically uncomfortable,you only wanted to tease him a little, and make him feel bad for ditching you last night and avoiding you. You didn't even get to ask any questions, god dammit. Did you really think that Sans opening up to you last night was a dream, or were you just hoping it was to make your life a little easier? You groaned and slapped your hands into the water in frustration. There goes any chance of him bothering to give you any kind of answer ever again.

You look down at your hands in the bath water as you contemplate what to do next. Your fingertips were pale now, finally having adjusted to the temperature of the water. At least there was one good thing to come out of all of this...

Suddenly you felt a surge of pain in your heart that you’ve never felt before and it cause you to tense up. You put your hand up on your chest, over where your heart would be and sighed. You had a feeling you knew why you felt like this.

‘Maybe it’s time to stop looking for the answers... and just let the answers come to me.’ You thought to yourself.

‘Alphys…’ you hum to yourself as you stand up out of the bath. ‘Alright, let’s go see Dr. Alphys.’


	15. Alphys' Lab

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid!’ you aggressively thought to yourself, emphasizing each word with the banging of your hand to your head. You were still in the bathroom, back in the oversized sweats and t-shirt you had on earlier, now leaning over the sink to glare at yourself in the mirror. You looked like a hot mess; your appearance accurately reflecting how you felt on the inside. ‘You just had to go and create a weird tension huh?’ This was so like you. Misreading situations, overstepping boundaries, and not taking inconsideration someone else’s feelings; ah yes the fucking trifecta of bullshit that is very much a part of who you are. ‘And now look, you have to own up to it. Can’t hide this time!’ You sigh and lower your head, you see your hands with a vice grip on the edge of the sink and your arms were shaking slightly.

Why were you more nervous to apologize to Sans than to get naked in front of him? ‘Oh you really are just a huge idiot sandwich.’

With a final huff of defeat, you loosened your grip on the sink and pushed yourself away. Stepping out of the bathroom you peered over the railing on the second floor into the living room. Empty. Ok. Turning your head towards the direction of Sans bedroom now, you could see his door slightly ajar with a dim light flooding out. With the assumption that Sans was in his room you treaded quietly over to his door, all the while tugging and twisting at the bottom hem of your shirt. The way you felt now reminded you of when you were younger and you had to admit to breaking something to your parents.

Biting your lip, you raised your hand to lightly rap your knuckles on the door frame.

“Knock, Knock.” You say quietly.

“who’s there?” You hear sans ask. He doesn’t sound mad, maybe everything’s ok?

“Just a dumbass human.” You answer, moving to peek out from behind the frame. You found him sitting on the edge of his unmade bed. He was looking up at you with an amused expression.

“just a dumbass human who?”

“Really, Sans?” You scoff. You’re standing directly in the door way now, arms crossed and a light scowl on your face.

“terrible execution, kid.”

“Fine, just a dumbass human who is here to apologize for her… misbehavior.” You state, arms still crossed but your scowl has faded.

“’m not mad?” Sans said, confused.

“Why’d you say that like a question?”

“i’m not mad.”

“Uh, ok. Why not?”

“do you want me to be mad?” 

"No, it’s just… I did a kind of shitty thing? I completely like, forgot what you told me last night and I just created an uncomfortable situation for you and-” Sans held up his hand to cut you off.

“look, you’re clearly upset about it which means you have the capability to feel guilt, that’s great and i accept your apology.” Sans said, standing up from the bed. “and how awkward would it be if you had to stay here without clearing out all the bad vibes you created?” He put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

You squinted at him and leaned up against the doorframe. “Are you reading my mind again?”

Sans laughed, but you were able to detect a hint of nervousness behind it. “uh, no. you’re just an open book, remember?” He was averting his gaze, making it painfully obvious he was avoiding something.

You vaguely remember him saying something of the sort, but you had a gut feeling that he was hiding something from you.

“… Whatever.” You roll your eyes at him and shift your weight upright off of the door frame so you could walk farther into Sans room. Your eyes scanned the area and, to be frank, it was a wreck. It’s no wonder why he keeps his door shut all the time.

“so…” The sound of Sans’ voice snaps your attention back to him.

“So…?” You reply.

“alphys’?”

Oh right, that was a thing that was still happening.

“I need to grab my shoes.”

“nah, no need. just your socks is fine.”

“Oh you want a round two of this fiasco? Because that’s what’s going to happen without shoes…” Oh wait. “Are we taking another shortcut?”

“ding ding ding, we have a winner.” Sans’ teases, his eye glowing that familiar shade of blue, and with a snap of his fingers a bright cyan portal appears next to him. He holds out his hand to you and you place your hand in it. “let’s see what’s behind door number one.”

You try to disguise your amusement behind a snort. “You are such a dork.”

“yea, but you love it.” Sans said looking proud of himself, and you smiled at him as you allowed him to pull you through the portals opening.

Your first thought once you appeared on the other side was that it was HOT. Way too hot to still be in Snowdin. Your second thought was ‘Damn, that’s a big fucking building.’ You looked up in awe at what you assumed was to be Alphys’ lab. Sans began walking forward still holding your hand, the gentle tug causing you to break your gaze and stumble forward.

When you were at the entrance to the building Sans reached out to press a button on the wall next to an imposing metal door. You expected it to ring, like a doorbell, but instead it simply beeped once.

“knock, knock.” Sans spoke, and seconds later the door slid open. You looked nervously at him, but he merely shrugged at you. “she never humors me.”

You both stepped inside and you were met with the chill of air conditioning and the glare of shiny linoleum and chrome. Sans let go of your hand and you watched as he trudged over to a couch that seemed oddly out of place in a laboratory and threw himself onto it. He looked like he was already fast asleep.

You switched your gaze over to the desk up against the wall. It was covered with empty ramen cups and..manga? They had anime down here? You snickered to yourself as you walked over to look at one of the many books on the desk. You were disappointed to find that, judging by the cover, it was not a genre you had any interest in.

“S-sorry for keeping you t-two waiting! I’m m-making my way d-down now!” You heard a voice stutter from above. You looked back and forth at the two escalators in the lab, waiting for your host to show themselves. Then you saw them, a short, yellow lizard like woman in glasses and a lab coat. You noticed they were wringing their hands nervously. She looked down at you as she traversed down the escalator and gave to a small wave, and then she saw Sans passed out on the couch.

“S-Sans! It’s r-rude to sleep w-when theirs a-a guest over!” Alphys scolded.

Sans only grunted in reply.

“He’s s-such a l-lazy bones, Isn’t he?” Alphys was on the first floor now, and she made her way over to you. “O-of course you p-probably a-already know that…” She was fidgeting with her glasses now, so you gave her a reassuring smile.

“Yea, he is a bit of a mess.” You look behind Alphys and see Sans leaning over the armrest of the couch.

“hey, I have a reputation to live up to.” Sans mumbles as he gives you a wink. You bring your attention back to Alphys.

“A-anyways, about your c-camera…” Alphys starts, and your eyes follow her as she walks up to a large filing cabinet. She fishes around in her lab coat pocket and pulls out a small key, with which she unlocks one of the drawers. She reaches in and pulls out your camera, but there’s something different about it. “I h-hope you d-don’t mind…but I-I had some s-spare parts lying a-around and well I c-couldn’t r-resist.”

Alphys walked back over to you and handed you your camera. She looked nervous as hell, unsure of how you’ll react. You inspect the camera and immediately spotted the difference. The bottom was bulkier than usual, and you noticed a wide slot on the additional piece. You turned the camera upside down and found a small tab, which you quickly fiddled with. It opened up a small compartment and inside were sheets of blank film.

“Oh no way.” You breathed in disbelief.

“I-I hope I didn’t o-overstep any b-boundaries…” Alphys stuttered quietly. You looked up at her from your camera, a huge smile plastered on your face, but her eyes were averted from you.

“Are you kidding Alphys? This is, wow, I’m a bit lost for words.”

Alphys was looking at you now, a light blush across her cheeks. “I-it was nothing r-really…”

“i wanna see.” Sans said, still half asleep from the couch. You walked over to him and showed him the new attachment

“This is where the film comes out.” You say, pointing to the slit on the bottom front. Sans holds his hand out to you, and you set the camera in it. He inspects it for a moment and holds the viewfinder up to his eye socket, and then there’s a flash. You watch, slightly blinded, as a piece of film slides out from the slot. Sans pulls it out and looks at it, keeping it from your view.

He chuckles and looks up at you “hey, it works.”

He turns the piece of film around so you can see it. “Oh geez.” You groan. It was you, mouth slightly agape and an inquisitive look on your face. Definitely candid and definitely embarrassing. You reach out to snatch the photo from Sans, but despite his tired demeanor he quickly moves it from your reach.

“Give it here Sans, I look god awful and I need to burn it.” You demand.

“i think it’s cute.” Sans says as he pockets the photo and holds your camera back out to you. You quickly take it from him. 

“And I think I’m gonna kick your ass.” You grumble. Alphys snickers behind you, and you turn to face her.

“Y-ou two a-are certainly something, h-huh?” Alphys says, giving you a sly grin.

You blush. “He just likes to make me flustered.”

“says the girl that locked me in the bathroom with her” sans chimes and you turn to glare daggers at him.

“O-oh!” Alphys gasps, her face growing redder.

“You weren’t locked in there; you could’ve left at any time!”

“heh, hey alphys it’s getting kinda late; i wanna get home before paps.” Sans says as he stands up from the couch.

“Of c-course! Go ahead then, n-no worries!”

You turn to face back to Alphys. “Thanks again for fixing my camera up, Alphys. This means a lot to me.”

“It w-was my pleasure.” She snickers and attempts to hide a grin behind her hand.

You tilt your head at her in confusion. “What’s funny?” You ask, and before you can turn around Sans bony arms are wrapped around you, locking your arms to your side. “What the fu-”

“later, Alphys.” Sans interrupts, and suddenly your both falling backwards into nothingness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter? i actually like it. you can really see the difference in my writing from 3 years ago to now.


	16. Moonlit Observations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i literally have no excuse for why this chapter is so late lol. biggest apologies! hope this bit of fluff will subside any hard feelings :^)

Mentally, you were screaming as you fell backwards into sans and his shortcut but the sound didn’t have a chance to meet your voice before the free-falling feeling ended and Sans landed on his bed with you still wrapped in his arms.

You huffed in slight discomfort when he hit the bed, the weight of your body causing his bones to dig into your flesh. You clutch your camera to your chest and wiggle around a bit to try and loosen his grip, but it seemed futile. You stop and glare at the ceiling for a moment to assess the situation when you hear Sans gently snoring in your ear. ‘Did he really fall asleep like this? How rude!’

“Sans I swear you better be fake snoring…” You grumble, and he merely hums in response. You go back to fighting against his grasp “Release me, you bonehead!”

Sans finally removes his arms from around you and you roll off of him and onto your side. “ ‘s not fair. humans are prime cuddling material…” Sans mumbles, as he turns on his side to face away from you. Almost immediately he starts snoring again.

“Why are you so tired all of a sudden, anyways?” You ask, propping yourself up on your arm.

“too much magic.” He answers. “we took like… 3 shortcuts in one day?”

You snort. “Is that all it takes?” Sans shrugs his shoulders and grumbles something you can’t make out. And then, with a sudden force, Papyrus opens the bedroom door.

“Brother! I have returned from my duties, and-!” He cuts himself short as soon as he sees you on the bed with Sans. ‘Oh no…’

“Human…” Papyrus squints at you, and you tense up as you prepare for him to make a comment about you being in bed with his brother. “If you were tired of sleeping on the couch then you should’ve came to me! I would have graciously given up my bed for you to sleep in! My bed is much cooler, seeing as it is in the shape of a racecar, and unlike Sans’, is actually made!”

You exhale and relax again. Huh. Well, he did have a point about Sans’ bed being made. Did he even have sheets?

“Hey Sans, do you always sleep in your bed unmade?” You ask curiously. You watch Sans roll back onto his back.

“i guess I just don’t see why it _mattress_.”

“Terrible!” Papyrus scolds, and you nod your head in agreement, biting your tongue to hold back a snicker. You push yourself to sit upright on the bed at turn to face Papyrus.

“Does Sans even have any sheets?”

“That would be them, over there.” Papyrus points to a corner of the room and your eyes follow his gesture. There you see the dark blue colored bed sheets wadded up into a ball.

“Ah… are they um, clean?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, human!”

You groan as you hop off the bed and towards the sheet sphere, setting your camera down on the desk you pass as you make your way over. You pick the sheets up and glare at them, and then you turn to do the same to Sans, who was watching you now, half asleep with that shit-eating grin. You bring the sheets ever so closer to your face.

“Human…” You hear Papyrus whisper with a hint of concern. You ignore him, and take the gentlest of whiffs. Nothing? You smell them again to confirm, and they really don’t smell much like anything.

“I think… they’re ok.” You finally say.

“So brave…” Papyrus swoons. You giggle at his reaction and toss the ball of sheets onto Sans’ bed.

“Ok well, we can’t make the bed with you on it so… get up.” You say to Sans, but he ignores you and dozes off again. You go over to him and grab both of his wrists and make an attempt to try and pull him up but he is heavy. “How can you be so heavy, you’re literally all bones!”

“guess i’m just…_dense_.” He snickers and Papyrus groans in response. You give Sans a glare but your lip twitches as you try to hide your amusement. You’re pulling Sans up out of the bed now, or rather he’s gotten himself up and is letting you guide him over to the chair by the cluttered desk in the room. You sit him down and watch as he melts into the chair; his head falling back over the top of the chair in an uncomfortable looking fashion. You still aren’t sure if he’s over-playing his exhaustion or if it’s genuine.

“Papyrus, could I have your help please?” You ask as you walk back over to the bed and begin to separate the wad of sheets. He gives you his signature laugh in response, and with his help you make the bed in a matter of minutes. When you finish both you and Papyrus look proudly at the bed, which looks about a hundred times more inviting than it did previously. Switching your glance back over to Sans, you find him nearly dozed off on the chair so you instead take the initiative of jumping onto the freshly made bed.

You throw yourself onto the bed face first in a not-so-graceful manner. You turn your head to the side, close your eyes and let out a content sigh, finally able to let yourself relax on a surface that was much more comfortable than the couch you had been sleeping on the past few days. You then hear Papyrus’ footsteps as he walks over to Sans and lifts him gently up off the chair and brings him over to the bed where he sets him back down on. You open your eyes slowly and watch as Sans settles himself down on the bed, taking up a similar position as you; flat on his stomach and his head to the side facing you. You study his expression and find that he actually does look a little more relaxed than he did moments ago.

“Looking comfortable there, bonehead.” You tease. He only grumbles in response.

“Well then, on that note I shall be seeing myself off to bed! Sleep well, Sans and human!” Papyrus interjects, making his way out the door and switching off the light before closing it.

And so now you’ve found yourself in a dark, moonlight room with Sans whom, you assumed, was deep asleep. You let out a quite hum to yourself, recalling the last time you fell asleep with Sans and how you were, to say the least, a hot mess. This time though, you actually had the chance to study this skeleton monsters features; which to you were completely new and unique and honestly times like these would be the only way to observe without offending or looking like a creep. You reached out your hand to touch his face, but hesitated for a moment as you watched his shoulder lift and sink in sync with his breathing. Did he really even need to breathe? You weren’t even sure if he had lungs, being a skeleton and all.

You finally let yourself touch your fingertips ever so lightly to his cheek, holding your breath the entire time with the fear that he would wake up. When he didn’t, you allowed yourself to gently cup his face with your hand, sliding it down slowly to his jaw. He felt cool and hard, but not entirely as smooth as he looked. His skull felt minuscule-ly textured in a way that you really couldn’t compare to anything else. You brought your hand back up to his eye sockets and gently traced underneath them where the coloring was somehow a few shades darker than the rest of his bones. You continued your movements over to where his nose (or lack thereof) was, and then finally to his mouth where you again hesitated as you felt a heat rise to your face. Why did you want to smooch the skeleton? This is an unreasonable thought to have over someone you just met a few days ago, never mind the fact that he’s a walking talking, skeleton. You sigh to yourself and retract your hand back to yourself, but instead of keeping it at your side you move it towards his outstretched hand. You gently move your hand on top of his, allowing your digits to intertwine delicately. You hear sans let out a gentle hum and you smile to yourself.

Maybe this was okay.


	17. Nightmares and Hand-holding

The room you were in was vast and empty. A light fog spanned across the floor and coupled with the chilly air set a shiver of discomfort through your spine. A dim light began to shine through some of the tiles on the floor, giving you a better look at your unfamiliar surroundings. You raised your hand up to your face and watched as its shape flickered and contorted, allowing you to come to the conclusion that you were indeed dreaming. You lowered your hand back down and folded your arms around you to try and keep what remaining body heat you had left close to you.

You kept your eyes straight ahead of you, not inclined in any way to move from your spot, hoping that you would wake up quickly from this way too lucid nightmare, but solace never came. Instead a familiar shape began making its way toward you, causing your body to tense up from fear. When the body fully emerged from the fog, only mere feet from you, you let out a shaky breath fully recognizing the creature in front of you. He was the one from your earlier dreams with the cracked skull-like face and a tall, dark, looming figure. His whole person aired about a sort of dissonance that you found more than mildly uncomfortable.

“Hello there.” The figure greeted with a voice that wasn’t quite like anything you’ve ever heard before; static-y and very uncanny. Your jaw slacked open a bit from hearing this nightmare using his voice to talk to you, as he never could previously. He was trying to communicate before with sign language and now he could speak? What for?

“I-I, Uh, how come you’re able to speak now?” You stuttered.

“Well, that’s certainly no way to greet a new friend.” The ghastly figure chuckled, but you could sense just how un-genuine it was. He started closing the space between you to now, and you instinctively started to take a step back but found your body frozen in place.

You watched him as he rose is bone-like hand up for you to take, paying special attention to the hole in the center of his palm. “Now, be a friend and shake my hand.” He uttered, cocking his head to the side. Your body had absolutely no say in the matter despite your best efforts to resent. An unknown force tugged your hand from its grasp around your body and into his open one. His grip on your hand was strong and it dominated over yours, but he himself felt cold and lifeless. You recalled your handshake with Sans, and how his touch was pulsing with energy and life. This one, you thought, was devoid of anything; just an empty husk.

“The name is Gaster, Dr. Gaster if you will. I apologize for the forceful and very late introduction; it’s the formality of it all you see…” He rambles as you stare into the dark and empty abyss of his eyes waiting for his grip on your hand to loosen. “Oh, and no need to introduce yourself friend, I’m already quite acquainted with you.” He finally drops your hand, and you quickly retract it back.

“I’ve just met you, how is it that you already know who I am?” You ask Dr. Gaster.

“Oh, I’ve been lingering in your mind for a while now, ever since you fell down here in fact. Are you saying you don’t recall me from the other times we met in your dreams?” He answers teasingly.

You squint at him suspiciously. “I…do, but these are my dreams. How is it you’re sentient in them?”

“That’s difficult to explain fully. The shorthanded answer, however, would be magic my dear.”

“So what, you’re just some kind of weirdo that projects themselves in other people’s dreams?” You scoff.

“Oh no, I’m still very much an enigma.”

“Then how is it that magic is the answer here, because I certainly don’t have any for you to use.”

Dr. Gaster gives you a slight chuckle. “You are quite correct friend, but you are often around someone that does possess magic, no?”

You feel your face heat up a bit.

“In fact, I would say that you two are _very_ close at this current moment.”

“It’s not even like that.” You huff in denial.

“Regardless, it seems that in this moment I am receiving a sufficient amount of magic to communicate fully to you.” Gaster says a matter-of-factly, holding his hands behind his back. “And now, at this point you must be wondering what exactly I want to communicate with you.”

You make another futile attempt to flee, still feeling the magic weight hold your body back, before answering.

“If I’m being honest, I’d rather not hear whatever it is you have to say.”

“What if I told you I knew how to get yourself and your friends out of the Underground?”

Your eyes widened a bit in surprise. This sketchy monster you couldn’t even tell was real or not wanted to help you?

“I don’t believe you.” You say. Dr. Gaster chuckles in response and begins to close the gap between you two. He’s mere inches away from you now, practically leaning over you, and you can feel a static like aura emanate from him causing the hair on your arms stand on end.

“What’s the point in friendship if we don’t have a little trust in each other?” Gaster asks, tilting his head to the side. You attempt to say something but your body betrays you in its fear.

Gaster adjusts his height, standing up straight, and looks around the empty room. “Well, it seems we’ve dawdled for a bit too long… I can sense you’re about to be woken up.” He returns his gaze to you. “However, I do suggest you continue to get closer to Sans. You may not agree with me, but he is hiding things… you should figure out what they are. They could be of help to you.”

Suddenly the room begins to glow brighter and Dr. Gaster’s form begins to flicker in and out, similar in appearance to loosing signal on an old television.

“I’ll be seeing you, friend.” He utters before your vision is completely blinded by the light.

* * *

You were awake, but you couldn’t move; sleep paralysis in full effect over your body. You made an attempt to say something but your brain wouldn’t let your words escape. The feeling of helplessness causes you to panic more and attempt with every fiber of your being to thrash about even though you knew it was futile.

Then suddenly there’s a shifting of movement beside you and a gentle but firm grip on your shoulder. The hand on your shoulder starts massaging gently in repetitive motions and you here Sans’ voice beside you.

“shh, s’okay. dont panic, just let the rest of your brain wake up. you’re safe, I promise.”

You relax a bit, and try to focus exclusively on the soothing motions on your shoulder. You feel your brain begin to de-cloud a bit.

“good, now try to wiggle your toes first.”

You do, and though it takes you a moment you feel as though you’re body has regained its full consciousness. You open your eyes slowly and there Sans is, a look of relief plastered on his face. The last bit of tense relieves its self from your body causing you to sigh in relief, and you roll over onto your back.

“Sorry bout that.” You say quietly.

“don’t apologize. I get it too, the sleep paralysis thing.”

You frown to yourself when he says that. Sleep paralysis sucks and you wished you could carry the burden of having it so no one else would have to experience it.

You here Sans snicker quietly beside you. “what’s with that pout?”

“Nothin’. Just sucks.” You mumble thoughtlessly, still fighting the morning fog in your brain.

“not a morning talker huh.” Sans says.

“You don’t strike me as one either, so what’s up with that?”

“i slept good for once. i feel like i could wrestle a bear and win.”

“Please do not do that.” You snort at his silly early morning antics. Why did this all feel so natural? Being herein bed with Sans, laughing quietly at each other in the early morning… it just felt so right. You turned you head over to look back at Sans, who was studying your face inquisitively.

Your early morning bliss was cut short though, when Sans’ bedroom door was suddenly thrust open with such gusto that the action could have been performed by none other than Papyrus, and his spoken word only confirmed your assumption.

“AWAKEN LOVE BIRDS. IT IS TIME TO SEIZE THE DAY. EARLY BIRD CATCHES THE WORM, AND ALL THAT JAZZ.” Papyrus says enthusiastically with a snicker as he shuts the door behind himself. You and Sans both groan, presumably at the fact you have to get up and definitely not because he called you two love birds.

You both stay lying in bed for a moment, yourself staring at the ceiling just soaking in the moment. Finally you sit upright; turning to look at Sans who in turn is still watching you half-lidded.

“So… wanna go wrestle a bear or something?” You ask him teasingly.

“pfft, hell yea.” Sans snickers, “actually i have something better in mind.”

“Oh, and what would that be?”

“go put on a jacket, you’re not going to want to be _bear armed _for this trip.”

Your face scrunches up at the poor attempt at a pun.

“okay I’ll admit that wasn’t _beary_ good.”

And on that note you got up without a word to go find your jacket, leaving a half awake Sans behind.

* * *

You followed Sans curiously, your camera hanging safely from your neck as he told you that you would probably want to bring it. You noticed he was leading towards the cavernous entrance to Waterfall.

“you’ve never really had a good look, and i told you I would bring you back so…” Sans spoke.

“Yeah, the last time I was there we breezed through to get to Undyne’s.” You recalled as you both took your first steps into the cave. Immediately you felt the air shift ever so slightly. It was subtly warmer in this underground cave and it made you wonder briefly how the ecosystem worked down here.

“There’s some pretty neat spots down here; would probably make some cool pictures too.” Sans says, interrupting your thoughts and shifting his eyes to your camera. You smile down at it too in agreement. Some long exposer shots of the natural fluorescent lights would be amazing.

“watch your step.” Sans mumbles, and your eyes snap back up in attention. You were at the bridge now; the same one Undyne chased you over the first time you met her. The water was pitch black here, but rows of cyan reeds poked out from the gentle currents lightly illuminating the path. Instinctively you moved closer to sans, weary of falling into the water. You very awkwardly brushed hands with him, and ultimately decided there was no harm in holding it. You not-so-sneakily slid your hand into his which he accepted with no rebuttal, but not without raising a brow in question. You simply threw him a genuine smile and left it at that, returning your eyes to the dark water. Then suddenly, a block of ice floated past. That was…more than odd.

“Hey Sans, is this normal?” You ask.

“I mean there’s not really much documentation on human monster relations so-” Sans mumbles.

“Not about us holding hands! I’m talking about this huge block of ice floating down here.” You point a finger towards it. “Is this thing all the way from Snowdin?”

“what? Oh. Yeah, we send ice all the way down to hotland.”

“…For?”

“we use it to keep the core from overheating.”

“Ah yes, of course…. The core…” You say feigning intelligence on the matter.

Sans snickers at you. “it’s how we power everything down here.” Your eyes widen at him in surprise. “how’d you think it worked, magic?”

“I mean…! You can’t blame me for thinking that!” You laugh at yourself and Sans’ joins you in harmony. Everything down here made no sense, and at the same time you were finding the similarities in the Monster’s society compared to your own Human one.

And suddenly you’re both off the bridge trudging through thick blades of grass, with something glowing the familiar bright cyan catching your eye. You picked up your pace, dragging Sans behind you, and quickly approached what appeared to be a tall flower. You leaned into it, mesmerized by its radiant petals.

“It’s beautiful.” You spoke.

_“It’s beautiful.” _The flower spoke back.

You gasped quietly, and turned quickly to Sans for an explanation. His smile was so wide, you could tell he was enjoying every second of your childlike inquisition.

“it’s called an echo flower. Pretty self-explanatory; it repeats what you say to it.” Sans explains.

“That’s honestly one of the most amazing things…”

_“That’s honestly one of the most amazing things…”_

You let out a small squeal and squeeze Sans’ hand, incredibly giddy over the talking blue flower.

“if you think that’s, cool just wait.” Sans says, giving you a gentle tug to get you to continue follow him. You did so eagerly, thoroughly intrigued and eager to discover more of the magic Waterfall had to offer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( ´＿ゝ｀）apologies for the very long wait. sometimes its hard to fill in gaps between the more interesting bits, you know? also sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes. i dont feel like looking over it lol.


	18. Kiss and Regret

Turns out, there was a lot you missed when you last rushed through Waterfall. Aside from the talking flowers, you found the ceilings and walls lined with what you could only assume was some kind of bio-luminescent matter; any more specific than that you weren’t sure, perhaps it was just magic. But it wasn’t just the mass scattering of star like specks that caught your attention, you also were quick to spot carvings on some of the walls; transcripts of some kind.

You walked over to one, and lightly traced the script carving with your finger. It wasn’t in any language you could understand so you could only appreciate it at face value. As it were though, Sans was studying your reaction to everything, and was quick to pick up on your intrigue with the glyphs.

“these carvings are ancient. been here for as long as I can remember, and even longer than that.” Sans says quietly.

“What do they say?” You ask. Sans shifts a bit, looking a bit uncomfortable.

“they’re basically just telling the store of the war between monsters and humans.” Sans takes your hand, which was still absentmindedly tracing the unfamiliar script, and moves it to the beginning of the glyph.

“’a monster with a human SOUL... a horrible beast with unfathomable power. the humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. they attacked suddenly, and without mercy.’” Sans read, moving your hand along with the words on the wall.

Your face twisted in confusion. There was a lot about the War of Humans and Monsters you didn’t know, and you had always been convinced that monsters had been ruthless murderers that had wreaked havoc on human society; of course that was just a part of what little they even taught to begin with, the rest of the history being swept under the rug for future generations to forget. A monster with a human soul and unfathomable power… well, that was entirely new information to you. You suddenly felt very vulnerable here alone in this dark cave with Sans.

You wanted to ask why and how exactly a monster took a humans soul and whereabouts this monster was, but your words seemed to be stuck in your throat. You looked over at Sans who had his head tilted upwards staring at the lights on the ceiling, a melancholy look plastered on his face.

“you know, this is the closest thing we have down here to stars.” He sighed. You felt guilt settle in your stomach, feeling unreasonably responsible for the reason monsters were trapped down here. They didn’t seem bad at all, and yet… you felt conflicted.

“I’m sorry.” You whispered, and you truly were. You just didn’t quite know how you could help yet.

Sans shrugged in response. “s’not your fault we’re trapped down here, and on the bright side you’ve been a pretty good distraction from the mundane.”

You pout playfully at him. “You’re pretty good at distracting too; taking me to a place like this to keep me from thinking about how there’s a literal child running around getting into trouble down here.”

“aw man, you already figured it out.” Sans said, feigning disbelief.

You crossed your arms and raised an eyebrow at him.

“it was inevitable I guess…” he chuckled softly.

You softened your expression. “How are they?” You asked.

“fine.” Sans replies bluntly, brushing past you and deeper into the cave. You turn on your heel to follow him. “they’re always fine, I made a promise to keep an eye on ‘em after all.”

You gave a weak smile. “I’m glad you’re looking out for them Sans, considering you won’t let me do a damn thing.”

Sans chuckled at that, and you watched as the caves began to illuminate brighter hues of blue. You both stopped having approached the source of light, the bright cyan waters that Waterfall was known for. Now that you had the chance to fully appreciate it you could say it nearly took your breath away. It was unlike anything you’ve ever seen on the surface. You turned to look at Sans to see what kind of reaction he was having, only to find he was staring at you instead. The light from the water lit up his face in a new way, making him appear almost ethereal. You briefly wondered if perhaps he was thinking the same thing about you, then without a second though you brought up your camera to your face.

The shutter snapped, and you held steady until the photo poured out of its slot. You lowered the camera and quickly swiped the photo before Sans would have a chance to, and you almost lost it when you looked back up at him. He looked a touch mortified, a bead of sweat dripping down his skull. You smirked deviously at him and took a peak at the picture.

You truly immortalized the moment. The lights in the photo danced beautifully of sans Ivory bones as he stared softly into the camera. You blushed and giggled a bit, completely in love with your new payback picture for the one he had taken previously of you.

“okay, hand it over kid.” Sans said, his voice reaching new levels of deep.

“What? No, it’s only fair I get to keep this picture since you have one of me.” You argue.

Sans sighed, already defeated with the point you made. “fine, just don’t show anyone. Not even papyrus. That’s for your eyes only.” He winked at you.

You smiled and slipped the photo into you jacket pocket. “My intentions are pure, I promise.”

“something tells me that’s not entirely true.”

“Hmph.”

“you could say, _I feel it in my bones_.”

“I would consider it a _gut feeling_, but I’m not sure you even have one.” You fire back, and as Sans face lights up in response you can’t help but smile yourself.

* * *

You both found yourselves sitting now, close to the water’s edge. You were appreciating each other’s company, even in the silence. It was nice sometimes to not have to talk to anyone and to just be in someone else’s presence. Sans’ eyes were closed, and he looked as though he was beginning to doze off, so you focused your attention on the pink lotus flowers that drifted down the stream past you. Sometimes they would appear in sets, other times there would be a distance between them, and you couldn’t help but wonder where exactly they were coming from and just where they would end up.

Your thoughts were halted when upstream you noticed something stark black floating toward you. Some trash perhaps? No, no... it was definitely shaped like all the other flowers that were floating down here. As it floated closer however, you began to notice just how devoid of color this thing really was. It was almost like light refused to bounce off of it, and it bordered on the edge of not even looking real.

Closer and closer it floated, getting caught on a few eddies on the way before it reached close enough for you to reach out and remove it from the water. You hand was mere inches away before it was stopped by Sans’ skeletal one, his grip hard on your hand.

“what-“ You started, but as you turned to look at Sans you felt a chill run down your spine.

His eyes were pitch black, devoid of their usual light.

“don’t touch it.” He ordered in an almost threatening matter. You shivered in response and began to notice the numbness in your hand from his grip.

“Sans… you’re hurting me.” You whimper and in that instant the light returns to his eyes, and as his grip loosens his expression shifts to one of concern.

“oh god, I’m so sorry,” Sans releases your hand. “I just panicked.”

You hold your hand to your chest, still a bit shocked for Sans reaction.

“Was there something wrong with the flower?” you asked. “It was just dead or something wasn’t it?”

“yeah, probably… I don’t know… sorry, I just overreacted.” Sans sighs as he leans back into a lying position. “I had a nightmare like this a while ago.”

You frown. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“not really.”

Instead of prying you let him fester a bit in his own thoughts, moving to lie down next to him. For a moment it was quiet, just the sound of water flowing and soft breathing, and you found yourself getting heavy lidded while watching the lights on the ceiling fade in and out like twinkling stars.

“I’m still not quite sure what to think of you.” Sans said quietly.

“I don’t plan on hurting anyone if that’s what you mean. I just want to help.” You say sincerely.

Sans doesn’t reply.

Annoyed, you sit up a bit and move closer to Sans. His eyes had been closed, but once he felt your presence move closer he opened them to find your face hovering just above his.

“What can I do to change your mind about me?” You ask. Sans eyes flicker away for a moment, and you swear you can see a light blue blush appear on his face.

“is this a threat?” He laughs nervously.

“Maybe.” You say teasingly.

“i’ll have you know i’m a tough nut to crack. empty threats won’t work on me.” Sans grabs one of your arms in an attempt to try and move you off of him, but instead of complying you go in for the kill.

And by kill, you mean kiss.

You kiss Sans right on his dumb smile, and although you dove right in completely blind and not sure what to expect, the experience ended up being surprisingly not terrible. Sans had no lips of course and while the cool, smooth feeling of his skull was foreign to you it was coupled with the flow of magic that rushed between your two bodies; sparks and tingles that you could feel from head to toe and a euphoric sensation that was unlike anything you had ever felt before. Was Sans feeling this too?

You pulled away a few seconds later as the feeling became too overwhelming and looked to see how Sans was feeling about the experience.

He appeared blissed out, that is until his expression changed to one of confusion and then to… anger? He reached out to grab the top part of both your arms and you froze with dread, wondering if perhaps you had just made a huge mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (o///u///o)


	19. That's Cheesy

The combination of Sans’ near vice grip and cold, dark eyes left your mouth dry and your brain scrambling for a reasonable response for why you did what you just did. He left you no time to think though as he sat upright, his hands still wrapped around your arms and holding you a distance away from him.

“what kind of game are you playing here?”

Your brow furrowed in disbelief. “Why on earth would you think I’m playing games, Sans?”

“these feelings are supposed to be one sided and my problem to deal with.”

Problem…? Why did that word hurt for you to hear?

Sans let go of your arms and groaned in frustration, mainly with his self. “ok maybe problem isn’t the right word, but I was getting better! I was ok with keeping everything platonic.”

You felt your heart suddenly start to sink, not quite believing what you were hearing. Why were you feeling so emotional of this? The way you were feeling was like you were having your heart broken by your soul mate…

“and then you just had to go and kiss me like that? I-“

You hiccuped back a sob, and Sans expression immediately changed to one of concern.

“no no no no no, oh shit, uh, don’t cry. Im not mad at you… im just-“

He leans in to wipe away the sudden flow of tears on your face. You haphazardly swat his hand away, the gesture causing him to sigh loudly.

“Y-you think you’re the only one feeling something?” You speak up, stuttering a bit but you let your own frustrations carry your words.

“Well, I’ve got news for you bone head.” You stood up and took a step away from Sans, your back facing towards him so that you wouldn’t have to see his face as you confessed. “When you touched my soul you did something to me too.”

You looked up at the ceiling of the cave to keep your tears from spilling over; the cerulean lights were blurry and danced across your vision.

“And the thing is, I was finding comfort in it… finding comfort in you.” You bravely turn to face Sans and found that at some point he had gotten up as well and was standing just inches behind you looking incredibly guilty and uncomfortable.

“i-I had no idea…” Sans fumbles for words, his voice quiet and gentle. “these kind of connections.. they’re not normally supposed to happen like this.”

“This whole situation of me being down here is apparently not normal to you Sans, why should this surprise you?”

Sans gives you a light chuckle “ok well, you have a point.” And suddenly you feel yourself unable to hold back a smirk.

Sans lights up in response and reaches over to tuck a strand of your hair behind you ear, the comforting gesture causing you to sigh and relax a bit.

“this is just overwhelming for both of us I think.” Sans says softly.

You nod your head in agreement, “I just wish I understood more of what exactly is happening between us.”

“to be fair, I’m not exactly sure I know what’s going on either.” Sans admits. “other than… the possibility we might be soul mates.”

Sans says the last part so hushed you’re not entirely sure what you heard was correct, but judging from his suddenly nervous facial expression it must be.

“Sans, that’s incredibly cheesy.” You say, raising an eyebrow in confusion. Why look so nervous making a flirty joke?

…

“Oh my god you’re being serious.”

“heh, as serious as I can brie.” And just like that his shit eating grin was back.

“Sans!”

“sorry, sorry. Yes, im being serious about the soul mate thing. It’s common among us monsters.”

“But I’m a human.”

“i know, it doesn’t make any sense to me either, but I don’t think it should be entirely ruled out despite how incredibly unheard of it is.”

“Is there any way we can tell for sure that’s what’s happening here?” You ask, causing Sans to look away. You swear you could see a light blue tint across his face. Is he blushing?

“erm, yea there is but it’s kind of a private thing.”

You tilt your head at him innocently. “How so?”

“we would need to expose our souls to see if they’re attracted to each other.”

“I’m not following. Wouldn’t you only take my soul out if you wanted to fight me?” You briefly recall your incident with Undyne a few days ago and how vulnerable you felt with your soul forced outside of your body.

Sans shakes his head. “the context is completely different. for monsters, your intentions when removing a soul mean the difference between initiating a battle or a romantic encounter.”

“Wow. That’s kind of a lot to process.” You admit, though you were thoroughly intrigued with the complexity of monster interactions. “So basically what you’re saying is under our circumstances this would be a more…intimate experience?”

“i’d say its comparable to how humans feel being naked in front of each other.”

Now it was your turn to blush.

“Oh.”

…

“This sounds pretty serious then.”

“yup.”

God, why does your heart feel like it’s trying to burst out of your chest?

“But…I still think we should find out for sure what we’re dealing with here. If we are actually, erm, soul mates.” That word was never going to not sound corny to you.

“ok.”

You stare at Sans awkwardly, unsure of what you’re supposed to do or say next as he merely stands there with an amused smirk on his face.

“Sans, your staring is making me a bit uncomfortable.” You say.

“heh, sorry. You feigning innocence is amusing to me.” He shrugs with a laugh. “you’re so eager to jump my bones.”

“So sorry, I guess I just don’t understand the correlation of soul sharing and being naked together; the former of which sounds like much more PG experience.” You joke.

“oh, did I forget to mention you’ll have to undress for this to work?”

Heat rises to your face.

“only kidding.” Sans winks at you.

“Can we just go home and do this thing already.” ‘Before I regret even insisting we do this.’

Sans gives you a slight laugh in response and reaches out to grab your hand. “ok I’ll quit _cheesing_ you.”

You bite your tongue to hold back your laughter and roll your eyes in response, but focus your attention back on Sans face as his electric magic begins to swirl around his eye socket. A familiar hazy, mirage-like image appears before the two of you and without a second thought you allow Sans to lead you through it and just like magic your back in Sans room.

* * *

You inhale sharply, not realizing you had been holding your breath whilst stepping through Sans portal. You’ll never quite get over how exhilarating it feels stepping between two different locations like that and via magic no less; the concept of which is still too much to comprehend.

Sans looks at you inquisitively as you calm down from your brief teleportation excitement. You blush in embarrassment.

“Sorry, the teleportation thing is still just really cool to me.” You explain.

“heh, if you think that’s cool wait until you see your own soul in person. That’s pure magic in a tangible form.” Sans says, letting go of your hand to fall backwards onto his bed as if he were ready to pass out on you again. You join him in prim lazy mode position after you gently place your camera in its safe spot on Sans’ desk.

You let out a small huff as you too fall backwards on Sans bed and place your hand on the center of your chest where your heart was and where you imagined your soul was as well.

“Hey Sans, if my soul is made magic why can’t I use it like you guys do?”

Sans sits him-self up and stares at the ceiling as if searching for the answer. “humans lost their ability to use magic a long time ago. I guess you guys figured you didn’t really have any use for it since it’s only a secondary nature for you.”

You let out a small hum digesting the new info and turn your head to catch sans looking at you.

“for us, it’s all we have. we are literally magic.”

_‘And that’s why the soul-mate thing is a pretty big deal.’_ You finished for him in your head. You found it strange that something could be created entirely of magic and still have sentience as opposed to your fleshy, natural being. It made it harder to believe that you really had a source of magic in your person.

“sit up.” Sans orders, interrupting your thoughts. You oblige, pulling your body up and turning it slightly so you were both facing each other now.

Sans takes your hands into his, gently caressing his thumb over your knuckles and lets out a deep sigh as if releasing his overloading thoughts.

“I need to make sure that you trust me.” He starts.

“I do.” You say.

“because if you don’t this could end up very badly.”

You bite your lip nervously. We’re you making a mistake?

“messing with souls like this, it takes a lot of trust. typically years of it in the making but…well we aren’t exactly a typical case.” Sans lets out a small chuckle.

You pause for a moment to gather your thoughts. We’re you really ok with Sans doing this? You felt like you were but…

Sans looks nervous now, scanning your face for any clue as to what you’re thinking.

You sigh heavily.

“I think if you were to have asked me this question a few days ago, I would have without a doubt said no.” You say honestly. “But right now, I can’t deny that I feel safe with you and that there’s some kind of … spark; a kind of feeling I can’t really explain whenever I’m with you. I want to know what it is, Sans.”

Your heart is racing from this honest confession, and suddenly you notice Sans leaning in closer to you. Your breath hitches as he gently presses his forehead into yours; the cool, smooth surface of his skull sending delicate sparks of magic onto your skin. Your eyes are locked with his.

“that’s all I needed to hear.” He says lowly, and your eyes follow his as his gaze shifts to your chest and you watch as he reaches out to place his skeletal hand over it; mimicking a tugging movement. You watch, mouth slightly agape in awe, as your soul begins to slip from within your body. The sensation this time, as opposed to your encounter with Undyne, felt comforting and intimate as if you were sharing secrets with a close friend.

“Wow.” Was all you could really say as you watched your glowing soul float safely within sans cupped hands.

Sans was watching your soul too, the lights in his eyes having expanded as he admired it recalling the first time he encountered your soul and how he thought he would never get another chance to bask in its glow again.

This time he knew he was in far too deep to ever get back out again.

…

He would worry about the consequences later.


End file.
